The New Goddess
by DazMaZ
Summary: The brother Gods have abandoned Remnant, leaving their power behind. Now amidst a war between two sworn enemies a new being arrives, not for supremacy or power, but to give the ailing people of Remnant hope. With a decree she commanded, "Bring my love to the abandoned. If they will not care for their children then I shall. Take their power and bring it to me. Now go, my Overseers!"
1. Ch1 Wake Up Call

"Wherefore doth thee deny me? Coequal aft'r all thee has't witness'd thee still act 'gainst mine own shall."

* * *

**Ch.1 Wake-up Call**

**XXXX**

* * *

**Time: Unknown**

**Location: Unknown**

The scent of blood wafted through the air accompanied by a roar of fire. Well this whole situation evolved into a clusterfuck in no time at all. Still, the work was done and the targets slaughtered so there wasn't much reason to hold on to the situation much longer.

So with a grunt of effort a shadowed figure rose to their feet and dusted off the dirt that covered their once prone form. The burning light the fire imposed upon the area obscured all details of the figure, leaving only a shadowed form visible against the light of the whipping fire.

"That went to hell faster than seemed necessary," spoke the figure in a rough voice, "Guess that's what happens when you aren't given any real info huh?"

The body on the floor didn't reply.

Walking over, the shadowed figure reached for a massive cleaver that was embedded in the body's chest and griped the handle. "Sorry mate, I'm going to need this back."

The figure planted a boot and with a strong tug the cleaver was freed from the flesh pedestal that occupied the ground.

A loud splatter of blood ripped through the air.

With cleaver in hand the figure inspected it and commented, "Can't deny it though, you guys put up one hell of a fight. Almost wish I didn't have to kill you, but when your Goddess demands who are you to say no?" They paused then added, "Not that any of you would understand, I doubt you even know what that means."

The figure looked at their work, taking it all in. This life wasn't easy and it wasn't the most rewarding, but it was all in the name of a Goddess that would bring hope to this dying world. All anyone had to do was give their love to her and she would give her own love in return.

With the area devastated and numerous bodies littering the floor the large figure began their walk away from the fire, cleaver resting on their shoulder and a song on their lips.

"There can be no redemption for a sinner such as I

Won't you wish me to the cornfield now

Won't you help me stop living a lie

Ohh Save me, from fear and pain

And love will rain on me…"

Soon silence dominated along with the crackling fire as land, bodies, and stone burned away.

-XXXX-

**Time: Unknown**

**Location: Beacon Academy, Vale**

It felt like his nights were getting longer, being cursed as he was. Maybe his age was getting to him again; after all he had walked the planet more times than he cared to count. But it was something he would deal with as long as he needed to in order to defeat _Her. _Although he could silently admit to himself that it was taxing on one's mind.

Especially with all this paperwork in front of him on his desk.

Golly, the amount of paperwork.

The man sighed in his chair, his black suit jacket left open reviling a green button up and shirt. A dark green cowl was wrapped around his neck just under his pointed chin. He adjusted his shaded spectacles and contemplated sneaking out of his office before his assistant noticed was an option.

Alternatively if all paperwork in the world suddenly vanished that would work too.

The gray haired man took a sip from his mug and savored the bitter sweetness of the coffee inside. It was something that he was never seen without and one of the few comforts he was allowed in his line of work. Many who knew the man would argue that he's never had to refill that cup.

Brushing a hand through his grey hair the man readied himself to start writing on the paper in front of him, an application for one Velvet Scarlatina, when he heard the elevator doors at the head of his office open.

Out stepped his assistant holding her tablet in the crook of her arm. A pair of thin glasses sat in front of her emerald eyes which seemed to gleam with authority at all times. Her bright blond hair was parted to the right in a spiraling braid whilst the rest was tied in a bun at the back of her head. She was garbed in white long-sleeved, pleated top on her upper body and her lower was covered in a black high-waisted pencil skirt. Her black boots taped the floor of the man's office while a black waist length cape with a purple interior billowed behind her as she moved forward.

Like with the man's coffee mug, the tablet this woman held never left her possession.

"Ah, Glynda I assume you have something for me?" the man spoke, "Nothing worrying I hope."

Glynda stood at the front of the wide desk to address her superior, "The Fall Maiden has begun her way to Beacon and should be meeting up with Qrow near a bar in a small town now." Glynda nearly rolled her eyes at the mention of 'bar'.

The silver haired man gave a little smile knowing full well the woman's disdain for the agent. Although Qrow was what some would call a 'raging alcoholic' he was still one of the most skilled Huntsmen he had ever known in this age, so having him escort the Fall Maiden was a no brainier.

"I hope this pays off Ozpin, having her travel Vale on horseback is a huge risk," Glynda stated. Subtle undertones of worry lasted her words and if, the now named, Ozpin hadn't known her for as long as he did then it was likely that he would have never detected it.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug and responded, "I share your worry Glynda, but having the Fall Maiden travel any other way would cause unnecessary exposure leading to an even more risks than needed. This way we'll be able to keep the Maiden away from unnecessary interactions and, by proxy, limiting _Her_ chance of finding Amber through agents." He took another sip, "And besides, Amber should be with meeting Qrow now."

"Is that supposed to give me confidence Headmaster?" Glynda asked.

That got a chuckle from Ozpin, "If we had more time then maybe we could have devised a better plan, but with _Her_ agents constantly on the move we've had little room to maneuver." Despite his capabilities, time was something that was always in short supply for Ozpin. He figured that it was the cruel twist of fate that had it out for him.

Glynda nodded and then looked to her pad; her eyes scanned the surface and her brow furrowed. In all his years of working with Glynda, Ozpin knew that look very well and that's what got him worried.

"What's wrong Glynda?" he asked, almost dreading an answer.

"A message from Qrow, he says the Maiden hasn't reached the rendezvous and is going to look for her."

That wasn't good news at all. Did the Fall Maiden stop? Did she get lost somehow? None of the questions buzzing though his head were implying good answers, but he dreaded one the most. Did _She _find out somehow?

Ozpin stood from his desk and turned to the massive window behind him, coffee mug in hand and looked out to Vale. This was worrisome, worrisome indeed.

If an agent of _Her's_ found Amber then it would be a near unredeemable loss. He hoped that it was just a mistake in timing, he sincerely hoped that.

-XXXX-

**Time: Unknown**

**Location: Greenwood Forest Trail, Vale**

Horseback riding seemed fun when she was smaller, something that not many people would do now that airships and trains existed. It would be a unique experience, she had though to herself. She was right all those years ago when she first tried it.

But when you had to go horseback riding for hours nonstop, then it became dull. Veeerry dull. Amber now knew this and she was enlightened with dull knowledge about a dull trip on a dull trail in a dull forest. Do you have any idea how dull horses are? For Pete's sake not even Grimm showed up in her hours of traveling! If it wasn't for the time table she was under Amber would have likely gone out of her way to do something to shake up this trip. To make matters worse, Amber couldn't run her horse right now as she knew to let the animal a bit of reprieve after a few hours of galloping in the forest. She had the unfortunate luck to experience that problem first hand.

What a day that was.

So here she was, trotting down a beaten path on a tired horse in the middle of a (questionably) Grimm infested forest going to meet with people who say that they can protect her from forces that would destroy everything they know and love. You'd be excused in believing that everything that was forced upon her seemed a bit outrageous. But something in the back of her mind told her that the things these people were telling her had some truth to them and that her powers needed to be protected.

Ah yes, her powers. Amber always resented the powers she was 'blessed' with. She could still remember that day, the day she realized that she had more power than the most well trained huntsmen and huntresses could ever hope to have. Amber had awoken that morning to discover everything seemed different; it was like everything around her was small and insignificant to the point where they almost seemed pointless. When she walked around her village she couldn't help but feel that everyone else was nothing compared to her.

Amber hated that feeling.

She was confused and felt lost, just why was this happening to her? But then, like a switch being flipped on, everything started to make sense and Amber found out what she was. A Maiden. That's what was whispered in her mind, that's what she was. The sudden realization that she was a Maiden from the old children stories dawned on her like a behemoth barreling down the road at full speed. She understood this feeling of power bestowed upon her and what she could do with it. Yet, everything still puzzled Amber.

Why?

Why was she chosen, why did she get it, why was see burdened with this power! Amber never wanted to be so different from everybody else; she just wanted to live her life in relative peace. She never asked for this. But fate had a horrid sense of humor, and no doubt she was the butt of the joke. "Such is life," her mother once said.

The Fall Maiden sighed, her life was upside down and it didn't seem like fixing itself any time. So with not much else to do, Amber mounted a horse and galloped her way to Vale. Now here she was, about a few miles away from the closest village she and her benefactors agreed to have her meet an agent of theirs. Right now, however, Amber wanted a bed to sleep in and just do nothing for a couple of days, but knowing her luck she would end up involved in some kind of gang war in the city. So the sound of 'clip' and its twin 'clop' as her only company, Amber sat on her horse getting saddle burns.

….

Yep, she just had to wait….

….with not a single Grimm in sight….

….or people….

….or anything that wasn't a tree or dirt road….

Just. Her.

….

"AAAAGHGH!" came a yell riddled with frustration and absolute breaking point, "Why can't this village be any closer?!"

Throwing her hands in the air in exasperation, Amber was about ready to pull her hair out and burn down a forest in the hopes of something interesting spawning from it. Instead she slumped back on her horse and just stared into the cloudy sky above her. At this time the Frustrated Maiden had wondered into a clearing in the trail with the sides of the road blocked by two rows of wooden fences. Amber was practically at her wits end by this point, and she hadn't even done anything yet! She sighed, sat strait on her horse again, and pulled the hood of her green cloak over her head. Her horse had reached near the middle of the clearing where a dirt road going to Amber's right was just ahead. It was then she heard a clang of metal, a yelp, and then quiet sobbing.

The Fall Maiden snapped her eyes forward, toward the noise that broke the silence. Sitting in her path in the middle of the dirt road, sobbed a little girl with emerald green hair and a little grey and white dress next to a pink bike lying on the ground.

Where did this little girl come from and why was she crying? The Maiden didn't see anyone else on the road before she yelled out, and it was a very flat road. Amber's eyes were then drawn to the little girl's bike, more specifically its front wheel. The metal spokes were bent to the left completely disabling the pedal powered vehicle.

"She must have hit something," Amber though to herself.

The Fall Maiden stopped her horse, dismounted, and walked forward to the little girl. She didn't notice Amber's approach so when she opened her eyes to look up all she saw was a hooded woman walking toward her. Like any child alone in a monster infested woods, she backed up slightly and put her arms out in fear.

A meek, "Go away," spilled from the little girl's mouth.

This made Amber pause in front of the little girl; of course shed be scared of a random hooded person. So she reached to a satchel on her left hip and pulled out a red apple, then Amber approached the little girl again. "I'm not going to hurt you, here," she said offering the apple.

The girl looked up and stared at the apple, then at the woman offering it, and then to the apple again reaching out with an arm. Her hand slowly got closer and closer until Amber noticed a sudden duff of dirt move behind the little girl. The Fall Maiden pulled back the apple just so slightly, scanning the area behind the little girl. She then noticed the girl stopped altogether, freezing like she had been put on pause paused.

At that moment the girl disappeared, vanishing as if she didn't exist, causing Amber too immediately drop the apple and jump back just in front of her horse which reared in fright.

Before the Maiden was a young woman that looked almost like the little girl except she had darker skin and wore an outfit that exposed her stomach and arms. The whole thing was a combination of white and brown with a forest green wrap over the woman's chest. Amber noticed that she had two guns on her back, holstered but readily available.

Acting quickly, Amber drew her collapsible bow staff from her hip and extended it into a defensive position. On either side of the staff were two Dust crystals, one wind Dust and one fire Dust respectively.

Immediately after Amber jumped away the woman drew her two guns and rushed her, shooting as she closed the distance. Amber in response used a small portion of her powers to block the bullets. Then with a flurry of swings she thrusted the end of her staff holding the wind Dust crystal causing a wave of air to travel down toward the woman and blow her several feet away. Suddenly, Amber's instincts flared causing her to quickly turn around and barely block another person from landing a double kick with her staff. The newcomer then jumped away as Amber, twirling her staff with each move, blew away her first attacker again with wind Dust.

Orienting himself in the air the newcomer landed on a fence spoke and launched forward with an explosion from his feet. In response Amber spun around to her assailant and unleashed a blast of fire from the other side of her staff. The man curled into a ball with his feet forward and got engulfed by the fire only to appear in front of Amber with a kick that lost no momentum. It would appear that the man had mechanical legs which were now exposed due to the lower part of his pants being burned away.

Amber flew a few feet whilst landing on her back only then to have the woman land on her stomach heels first. The impact was so strong that the ground below the Maiden cratered below her. The woman then jumped off Amber to the side of her fellow assailant.

The sudden bouts of pain the Maiden was suddenly aware of left her mind in a haze trying to form coherent thoughts. It was difficult to focus when your face and your stomach had just received two up close inspections of two different pairs of boots. Then suddenly, Amber's mind went blank as what could only be described as pure instinct took over her thoughts. The Fall Maiden rose to her feet, and with eyes flaring with energy and power, she unleashed a massive windstorm. Lightning flared into the cloudy sky as she rose into the air from the dirt path displaying the power of the Fall Maiden for all to see. Using the storm above them the Maiden cast down a bolt of lightning in between the two assailants causing them to jump away in order to not get hit. Lightning rained down as the enraged Maiden attempted to strike them, but the two dodged each one barely getting out of the way. Once the bombardment finished, the duo preceded to shoot at the Maiden with foot and gun respectively, only for the bullets to harmlessly be deflected. Perhaps in offence and without breaking eye contact, the Maiden raised her arm and the leaves of a nearby tree came circling around her and once she had enough they froze solid. With a wave of her arm, the Maiden launched the leaves toward the duo like darts.

Yet while the Maiden focused on the two a third individual raced their way toward her. Looking to the side, the Maiden saw a woman dressed a bright red dress with orange detailing run toward her. A single orange eye stared at her with utmost focus. In an attempt to stop the woman before she could reach her, the Maiden cast a fire ball that the woman easily dodged. The woman jumped out of the way and when she landed a collection of black shards materialized around her. Thrusting her arm forward, the newcomer sent the black shards hurtling at the Maiden. The number of shards and the force of which they struck her, the Maiden couldn't stop herself from being thrown down back to the ground with a crash.

Disoriented, Amber raised her head from the floor. Her head throbbed with pain and her body felt weak, she saw the first woman who attacked her materialize out of nowhere followed by the man. Then at the end of the road, charging her, was the third assailant brandishing shot curved short swords. Quickly getting to her feet and taking a defensive stance, despite the pain she was in, Amber managed to block and parry the attacks the red dressed woman threw at her eventually getting the upper hand and kicking her away. The duo then proceeded to attack together in hopes of overwhelming Amber, but she pushed back their assault as well. As this was happening the woman in red got to her feet and combined the two blades together at the hilt forming a bow. Drawing three arrows the woman took aim, just as Amber looked back eye's wide, and loosed the arrows. Each one landed separate from each other into the ground tin a sort of triangle, and then they exploded.

When the dust settled, Amber was on her hands and knees breathing heavily as the three attackers approached. Then she snapped up with a wide wave of her hand and a gust of wind blew the three back. The duo charged ahead, with the woman disappearing from sight and the man rushing her head on. With the power of the Fall Maiden coursing through her once more, Amber easily dispatched the man rushing her with a bolt of lightning and two fire balls at the woman who snuck behind her. Now all combatants, minus Amber, were lying on the dirt road and silence permeated the air. Amber reached down to grab her staff which she had discarded during the fight and walked over to the emerald hair woman holding her side in pain. Once she was standing over the prone assailant, Amber raised her staff over her head with intent of ending her attacker. But then he eyes went wide and she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her back. What happened and why did she feel weak all of the sudden?

Behind Amber stood the red dressed woman, holding her bow, and arm outstretched. From where she stood, she could see that her arrow lodged itself perfectly into the Maiden's spine. As the Maiden fell to her knees once again, the red dressed woman sauntered up with a smirk on her mouth.

-XXXX-

Okay, everything went fubar quick that's for sure.

Gazing to the dirt road a fair distance away in the tree line, watched a large man clad in grey-white armor that covered his entire body. Over his armor was a large dark brown coat that reached to his calves. The four glowing eye holes of his helmet focused on the events that occurred on the long stretch of road, everything was playing out just like she said. He wanted to intervene right when the fight started, but he needed to stay back until the exact moment Red and power-hungry got just enough of the Maiden's soul to keep her hunting.

Timing was everything; this needed to be completed near perfectly so that he wouldn't be interrupted when he acquired the left over portion of the Maiden's soul and Amber's. Delilah was keeping that drunken excuse of a bodyguard busy, but she could only waste his time for so long before he broke away and hauled ass to the clearing. So there was little wiggle room to work around.

A massive gust of wind blew through the entire clearing causing the man to shield his eyes from the sudden storm. Once he lowered his arm he saw Amber limping over the emerald haired girl and then noticed the disciple of Salem get to her feet and readied an arrow. Almost there, just needed to wait a little longer. The imposing man readied himself by drawing his massive cleaver in his right hand and crouching for a sprint. His eyes narrowed behind his helmet's face plate, the golden glow of each eye hole dimming in anticipation. Amber was no her hands and knees now, an arrow lodged deep in her back. The two goons got to their feet and grabbed the wounded woman by her arms and presented her to the disciple, who then held up her arm. Black tendrils extended from her gloved appendage and hooked to Amber's face. Now it was the time to act!

The man's body suddenly shifted into action and with a mighty push of his legs, rocketed toward the assembled group at impossible speeds, his dark brown overcoat billowing from the speed. The red dressed disciple turned her head at the sound of a distance explosion only to see a massive figure to the right coming at her with a black cleaver in an underhand swing. The look on her face was all worth the wait alone. The man cut the tendrils, severing the disciple's connection to Amber, and planted a boot into the ground so he could turn and swing his cleaver at the disciple in one motion. She jumped away, only barley missing getting cut as she gritted hr teeth and looked hatefully at the interloper. His cleaver was firmly planted into the earth as he returned the disciple's gaze. Oh how he loved that face, the face of surprise and rage was something that he'd always enjoy when he made an entrance. But relishing her disbelief would have to wait as the male goon dropped Amber's arm and sent a kick to his face. He responded by drawing his blunderbuss with is right hand, leaving his left holding the cleaver, and shot to his chest blowing the attacker away.

"You're going to need to try better than that boy!" the man yelled, voice full of amusement.

"You two! To me!" the disciple shouted to the goons.

The girl jumped away and landed next to the disciple and the boy did the same, but held his chest and looked out of breath.

Holstering his gun, the man asked, "What leaving already? I thought you needed her soul?"

The disciple sneered in hatred, eyes locking with his four, as energy flared from her exposed eye. The man looked underneath his feet to see a buildup of energy, so he grabbed Amber from the ground and jumped back, eyes still locked to the disciple's one. She then preceded to teleport herself and her goons away to lick their wounds, leaving the man alone with Amber in his left arm. Looking down, he inspected Amber's form noting the disfiguring mark left by the disciple's attempt to take what was not her's. Before laying her down, he turned Amber over and took hold of the arrow still in her spine. Muttering a small prayer, a golden glow emanated from his right hand and he pulled, taking the barbed arrow out of Amber's back with no resistance. The process should have been painless preventing any further damage. He then muttered the same prayer and placed his hand to the entry wound, it wouldn't fully heal but this would prevent her from bleeding out.

The man laid her to the floor facing the sky; she was unconscious in a coma most likely. The man then spoke, "Well she's here and wounded. I got to her a little too quickly, but enough of her soul was ripped away that she'll still need help. What next?"

"…"

"Are you sure? That could raise more problems than we need."

"…"

"Alright, in hope this'll work. The last thing we need is Salem getting a foot ahead of us."

He then positioned his right hand over Amber's forehead and grasped something from his coat pocket in his left. Lowering his head, he began to speak in a tongue that sounded older than time. The words melded together in a harmonic fashion sounding almost like the lyrics to a hymn.

"By hêo wlenc, yfel overtake êower feorh m fêores wislic ongebringan ðâs friðsôcn to mîn gyden."

As he spoke, Amber's body began to glow bright. Her labored breathing lessened, her chest rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern. Once the words that spilled from his mouth reached their peak, Amber's eyes suddenly opened and a gasp left her mouth. But as fast as that happened, her eyes closed and she let out one last breath. With his job done, the man raised himself to his feet with his right hand straight and centered to his chest giving one last prayer.

A sudden kick of dirt reached the man's ears and he snapped his head to his left to see that drunkard leaping at him with a massive sword in both hands. What a sudden burst of irony. Reaching in a flash the large man drew his cleaver from his back and deflected the great sword before it could make conversation with his face.

His assailant jumped back, spun mid-air, and landed on his feet. His glare could kill a man. Launching forward in another attempt to strike the armored man, the drunkard threw all his weight into his next swing. He missed as his target jumped away while placing his cleaver on his back again.

He was about to strike again the large man spoke, "Whoa now, no need for that. I already have what I need so I'll be leaven."

The drunkard responded, "And why would I let you do that? I already dealt with your friend and I saw what you did here. Only a woman can use the power of a Maiden and I thought you were just a ready big lady, but that voice tells me otherwise. So I'm going to ask once: what did you do?!"

"You thought I was a, what now?" the man asked in disbelief,"First: that was rude and Second: you should be worried more with her than me boyo"

"That's not an answer!"

"Doesn't matter, I don't have either part of her soul anyway, I just stopped the one that actually has a portion. Your efforts should be geared for her before she expires."

The attacker paused for a moment but then shouted, "Wha-who attacked her!?"

"That is something you and your master are going to have to figure out," the man shrugged unsympathetically, "Now be a good boy and fetch the girl off the floor, bring her to old Ozy boy for me."

As Qrow's eyes widened the man then raised his left arm from out of his coat pocket; in it was a golf-ball sized gem. "Galy-Sval," the man spoke before crushing the gem in his hand. The shards of the gem shot out in the air then collapsed in on themselves and teleported the armored man away.

-XXXX-

Qrow tried to swipe at the individual again once he figured out what he was doing, but to no avail. "Damn, it," he seethed. This day was just getting worse by the minute.

First, the Maiden hadn't arrived at the town agreed upon so he went looking for her. Second was that person that jumped him after he refused to help 'em, as it would turn out they were working with whoever the hell that was just now. And finally, the Maiden was now comatose, he didn't feel any semblance of her power, and the only one who may have answers form him just taunted him and vanished.

Turning to the Maiden, Qrow picked up her unconscious form bridal style and ran to the nearest village. The devastation of the forest from that fight with that masked person passed him by as he approached. Trees were felled and craters littered the area, they certainly put up one hell of a fight. Upon reaching the town, Qrow made it to his loggings at the local pub, laid the Maiden on his bed and grabbed his scroll to call Ozpin. A moment later the face of his boss appeared on the small screen.

"Yes, Qrow what is it?" he asked.

"The Maiden was attacked; I can't feel the power of the Maiden from her."

"This is bad, is she alive and who attacked her?"

"She still breathing and I encountered someone when I arrived in the clearing."

"Who?"

"I'm not sure; he was huge though, likely around 8 to 9 feet tall. I found him doing something to the Maiden when I got there. "

Worry subtly etched itself onto Ozpin's face, "What exactly did you see?"

Qrow took a moment and said, "He was kneeling over her with is right hand above her forehead and his left held close to his chest. I couldn't tell, but it looked like he was holding something though I couldn't be sure. He was talking in some language I couldn't recognize, it was so foreign like it didn't belong here at all. Then I saw Amber's body jolt suddenly and her eyes opened only for them to close again."

Ozpin closed his eyes and held his chin; Qrow figured that he trying to think, maybe even recall an encounter with this guy at some point. "Was there anything else? Did you get any information out of him?" the old man asked.

"I did get something out of him, though it was after I attacked him first. I had no idea what he was doing but I couldn't take any chances. Anyway, after that he told me he wasn't the one who attacked the Maiden, but drove off the ones that did. But before I could press him any further he pulled out some sort of gemstone and disappeared. "

"Did he mention who attacked her?"

Qrow shook his head and frowned, "No, he said that it was for us to find out. Although if he was telling the truth about his involvement than I can guess who sent an attack."

Ozpin's neutral expression darkened; this wasn't good at all, not by a long shot. If what Qrow said was accurate and this mystery person did indeed stop the attack on the Fall Maiden, then they needed to find them at once. But it also implied that _She_ knew about the Maiden's rout, which meant there was a leak somewhere. This situation couldn't get any worse.

"One more thing Oz, he knew you by name."

Ozpin froze and his eyes widened. How could they have known that?

A dark expression came over his face, "Qrow, I've sent over a bullhead. Get back to Beacon at once; we need to secure Amber. And try to remember every detail you can about this mysterious individual. He could be linked to the one that attacked Amber, we need to find him."

Qrow nodded his head said, "Got it Oz," and hung up.

He sighed, "Well, this day got worse."

* * *

**Hello, this will be the first chapter of a hopefully engaging story. I'm writing this as a hobby so I'd recommend that you don't anticipate regular updates as I write at random intervals. It's basically a story I want to see created for the fun of it.**

**I may have missed some grammar errors in this story as I do not have a beta-reader so any mistakes anyone sees feel free to point them out. I accept all forms of criticism in order to make my stories more enjoyable for everyone and myself.**

**Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter.**


	2. Ch2 Insider's Knowledge

"Thee hath left liketh a coward. Thy w'rds spake of careth yet thy actions bid lies! thee nev'r des'rv'd what thee hadst."

* * *

Ch.2 Insider's Knowledge

**XXXX**

Was she dead? She felt dead, if this is what being dead felt like. It was a sensation to say the least. A constant awareness of being, yet her physical form failed to yield existence. The dark void consumed her like a blanket you wrap yourself up in to feel all nice and cozy like. A cup of hot coco would be nice too.

Mmm, chocolate.

But what did happen to her? The sharp pain from that arrow was gone. In fact all her pain was gone, the aches, the bruises, heck even that feeling of violation that woman gave her face was suddenly nonexistent. None of this made sense; the meat up, the attack, those people, that woman, and this black void she was in. Everything happened too fast for her mind to catch up. She couldn't recall much of what happened after that woman attacked her face with a beetle that, freakishly, came out of her gloved hand.

It's just, ech, it's creepy.

Her metaphorical head hurt trying to recall everything and in a state that she could only assume was 'nonexistence' that was impressive. Well she had awareness of her mind; maybe she could pull herself back together with sheer will power. Yeah, that could work!

"Well, at the very least your mind is active," a sudden disembodied voice muttered to itself. It sounded strange, almost…ethereal in a way.

Was there someone else here in this blank void? Maybe she can call out!

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"And it would seem you're conscious as well. I guess it worked better than expected," the disembodied voice responded sounding surprised, "Yes I am here much like you are."

"Where are you? I can't see anything."

"Maybe if you opened your eyes you'd be able to look around."

….

Oh.

-XXXX-

Delilah figured she was going to be sore for a long while, especially after a scrap like that, hoo-boy. Decent fights didn't come often and man was she feelin' it.

She looked around the chamber and got off her knees with a light grunt. In front of her was their temporary armory and storage space, all of the carry-a-longs needed for their work was stashed in the containers and boxes lining the walls while the right most side held their weaponry.

Delilah moved closer to the part of the stone wall that held her own weapons and she was pleased that they were still there. Her heavy falchion hung on two hooks at the hilt and her bladed fan was open, lying against the wall ready to be taken down. She really wished she could have used them during her little skirmish, but she couldn't use them for such a throw away task.

Sighing, Delilah turned and looked to the small shrine just behind her and walked over. The shrine had a small effigy of a divine figure standing at the center with the never ending candles lit to the sides of it. The statue itself depicted a figure dressed in a long gown with a multitude of arms all different in appearance and each hand held a different object with the exception of one. The middle most right arm held a halberd in a position of power showing to the viewer its might. The weapon itself was taller than the effigy's body and the head composed of three different blades with the upper most part being a spike. The middle most arm on the left side of the effigy was holding out a hand, offering you to take it up. It was a sign of peace and offering, something all are given when the time comes.

The head of the small figure was the most bewildering. Instead of an actual head like anything else, it was a carved interpretation of a shining light where the lining of a hood could just be made out in the center. There was no face to be seen, but surrounding the center was a collection of various things. A gear, a scroll, a sheathed knife, a star, and a key were just the most prominent things in the cloud of 'light'. The final most notable characteristic of the figure was a massive pair of wings that reached all the way down to the figure's hidden feet.

Looking at this statue always gave Delilah a feeling of meaning and warmth. She would always give prayer at the shrine to ask for the Goddesses protection every time she needed to leave for a task. As her mistress commanded, she would not fail at the task given to them both.

Delilah's gaze then shifted to a full body mirror near the armory where she would equip her armor. Walking over she was greeted by the same person she had seen time and time again.

Her body was concealed by a skintight body glove that hugged her form as well as emphasizing her subtle curves were it the only article of clothing she wore. Even though she was not as endowed as some of the women she'd seen on Remnant, it didn't really matter to her. And besides, it's not like she ever took off her body glove now and days.

Over her body glove was a thin layer of gambeson of a grey color with muted green highlights that flowed over the forearms, chest, shoulders, legs, and back. Scattered upon the highlighted sections of the body glove were facets of armored plates protecting Delilah. Leather belts looped through the buckles spread across the surface firmly holding the plated armor against her body. The plates themselves, while not the heaviest, were adequate enough to protect the vital parts of Delilah's body.

Her shoulder pauldrons were equal in size and reached down just above her elbows with metal sections that folded into each other allowing the full range of movement she needed. Her elbows were covered in simple hard leather couters and her forearms hid under vambraces. Delilah's hands, while gloved by the bodysuit, remained uncovered.

The plate protecting her chest was linked to the one parallel on her back by belts and clamps. The front plate was flat and concealed her body up to the ends of Delilah's ribs, protecting where her lungs and heart would be. The back plate, however, only covered her shoulder blades with the rest largely exposed. Interestingly, two long vertical holes were cut exposing a small portion of her shoulder blades.

Her organs didn't have plate armor instead relying on the gambeson for protection.

Delilah's waist was also armored with her sporting a groin plate connected to a reinforced belt. The bet itself had a bundle of pouches and a canteen looped to it.

Her upper legs were the last section of her body to host plate armor wrapping around her thighs and linked by more belts. Her knees and lower legs were simply protected by leather and heavy duty boots respectively.

The overall color of her outfit was a combination of grey and two muted greens.

The armored plates all shared the same color design where the muted green was the primary and lighter green was the secondary. Delilah's improvised cuirass, for example, was lined with the light green running around the edges and contained the muted green on the plate proper. Details and small carvings were embossed upon all the plates, mostly adding flare to an otherwise empty canvas of green. They were also colored with the lighter green.

Uniquely, the chest plate was embroidered with an icon: a four pointed bronze ring surrounding a red winged heart where two blue teardrops hung below the tip.

Delilah took a moment to take in all of the aspects of her armor and a moment more to the bronze icon before shifting attention to her head or more specifically her helmet.

Much like the rest of her it was embossed in light green details across the surface, but instead of a mute green it was primarily grey much like her gambeson. Upon the forehead was the same winged heart as her chest, yet lacked the color or depth. The helmet itself resembled a visored barbuta helmet, but the sides of which had two folded wings pointing strait back and reached down to the helmet's rim. The two eye holes of the helmet glowed with a silver light.

The entirety of Delilah's form was covered by her attire exposing no skin or flesh to the air. Over all, she looked to be a, if somewhat short, knight from the old stories.

The chamber that surrounded Delilah with stone walls wasn't massive, but it was capable of housing both herself and her companion comfortably serving as a place of rest in between their tasks.

Just as she had finished her inspection she heard the telltale noise of a telly-gem. Turing to the shrine she saw that her companion had materialized into the room with her, standing a few feet away.

Hands on her hips, Delilah greeted her partner, "Ah Gale, it's about time you decided to Komm her, Kind. I should assume Sie ist weg?"

Her massive companion responded with, "Yep, both the Maiden's and the host's souls have been safely taken. The big lady has 'em now. And don't call me a kid."

Standing well over 7ft tall and clad in his grey-white armor was Gale. His broad shoulders did well to emphasize his presence in a room the shoulder guards helped add intimidation as well. Every aspect of form portrayed raw physical power, with his armor adding to the image as well. Had he not been wearing his armor his body would look like the male equivalent of peek physical performance.

Like Delilah, Gale's armor was reminiscent of a heavily armored knight, although, he defiantly took to the image much more than her.

The cuirass was of solid plate that encompassed Gale's torso entirely with a chin guard at the rim of the neck line. A light green fur surrounding his neck was incorporated into the armor acting as a sort of gorget. It was flanked by the two shoulder guards witch themselves were rounded in such a way that they covered Gale's shoulders and allowed great movement. They did prevent him from holding his arms horizontally in a flat line, however.

Gale's arms were concealed under more plate in a complete pauldron, couter, vambrace combo aided by gauntlets that protected his hands. All of it was held together by leather belts.

The undersides of his arms exposed a layer of thick gambeson, something he wore under his armor.

Gale's waist was protected by a separated metal skirt that acted as the fauld with tassets. The cuirass and the fauld were held together by a large belt that interwove the two pieces.

His legs were fully encased as with the rest of him. Cuisse protected his thighs, poleyn his knees, and greaves covered his tibias. A pair of black leather boots covered his feet and overlapped his greaves almost entirely.

Upon Gale's head was his four eyed helmet. It was an enclosed kettle hat helmet that's rim bent down slightly and reached about six inches from his head. Hanging off the rim where small black trinkets in the vague shape of a heart. There were six in total held aloft by small black chains. The four eye holes, which were slits a quarter inch wide, were angled slightly giving off a tired or uncaring look. An ethereal golden glow emanated from them.

The grey-white color of Gale's plate was complimented by light green studs and details scattered about the armor. Upon his chest was the same heart icon that was embroidered on Delilah's armor.

"Well I'm glad that everything went so smooth. We both know everything could have gone zur Hölle in einem Handkorb," remarked Delilah with a hand pintching her chin.

Truth be told, she didn't exspect their plan to work in the first place. Going up against one of the most skilled Huntsmen of their time? Who, by the way, worked with what could possibly the most powerfull imortal being on Remnant!

That of course baring Queeny-McWhine face, but that was a given.

Delilah moved past Gale, who himself moved to the armory, and opened a cabinet to the right of the shine and pulled out a ruined and chipped mask. It wasn't anything special, just a simple white featureless mask that would have kept every part of her face concealed. The white netting over the eyes gave the illusion that the wearer couldn't see when in actuality it was sort of a one way glass. Coupled with a baggy hood and unremarkable clothes, a person could effectively cease to exist. Delilah's run in with Qrow was a good example of its effectiveness.

"That the mask you used?" Gale asked, taking his large cleaver from his back and hanging it with the rest of their arsenal.

"Tatsächlich," Delilah responded, "as well as some old clothing and a hood. The armer Junge couldn't find a remarkable thing about me."

"What is there to be remarkable in the first place lass?"

"Halt die Klappe! It's not like you could have kept him busy for so long."

"Heh heh, keep talking like that and people will start to think you're trying to sell something."

"Schwein!" If she could she would have stuck her tongue out, but all she could do was throw an unlit candle at his armored hide. To which Gale just laughed.

It was right after Gale succeeded at a job did he start acting all smug. No doubt he'd ride this for a while pushing the fact that he wasn't in his usual armor. Well neither was Delilah and she still did an arguably better job than he did.

Besides, it's not like she was a competitive type anyway. And anyone who claimed otherwise was just trying to get on her nerves!

Regardless of her partner's teasing she'd continue on with the mission like she was asked. Her boss wasn't someone you'd want to piss off anyway. That look of disappointment would drive an entire country into crying fits.

Gale spoke up after laughing at Delilah's expense, "All fun and games aside, what's next on the list? We gon'na start hunting for the other Maiden's next or are we doin' another sweep job?"

"We're going to have to keep things ziemlich now that the chess master just lost one of his pieces," Delilah explained, "Keeping from Vale for a while will be our best bet of throwing him von unseren geschickt."

"So like, head to the other kingdoms and piss off more powerful people?"

"Nein, we're just going to establish more shrines for now. These people still need something to look forward to if what she says is true."

Gale groaned and threw his head back; he hated this part of the job. Spreading a faith to people who are more focused on survival is always a challenge and even harder when huge parts of the population of Remnant disregarded gods all together. So the difficulty of this job was something she and Gale could agree on.

Although, they had made excellent headway with the down trodden Faunus populations in the main settlements and in Menagerie.

Those poor souls, it tore at Delilah's heart to see people in a harsh situation, but with the Faunus of Remnant it felt like a stab wound. The treatment of those people was something she could never understand being what she was and so it left her with bleeding heart that would never mend.

Gale on the other hand had explained to her that the segregation and hate that the Faunus experienced was nothing new for him. It was a conversation that the pair had when they first met those many years ago.

Delilah did get some comfort with the fact that these people were finding hope in their struggle, even more so as she was directly involved.

But wild cards like the White Fang were going to be reoccurring problem, especially now that they've started using the faith as a recruiting tool.

"You're getting that distant look again," Gale suddenly interjected while browsing their arsenal, "Thinkin' about the animal people again?"

Delilah let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head, no tact what so ever.

"They're called Faunus and yes I was. More specifically the White Fang. If we don't fix the situation with them soon then all our work with the Faunus will sei umsonst."

"Ugh your right, we gota deal with'm quick. If there's anything she hates more than taskmasters it's seeing her faith be used as a tool for hate. And let me tell you seeing her pissed off isn't as awesome as it sounds."

"I know that täuschen I was there when we raised Argust. Nothing was left in the aftermath, not even the mountains."

If they didn't deal with it soon then the entirety of Remnant might be wiped clean.

Delilah walked over to her weapons and took them off the racks. Her heavy falchion found its place on her back and her bladed war fan was folded at her hip. The two foot long piece of folded metal hung loosely to her waist belt ready to be drawn at a moment's notice.

Gale had already equipped his weaponry and was waiting by the little shrine arms crossed. "We should split up, cover more ground that way."

Delilah nodded, "Ja, we can weaken the White Fang cells in the other provinces and then focus them down in Vale once they're nichts als eckige Ratten."

With a final nod from Gale the two stood facing the shine and kneeled clasping their hands together and both offered a small prayer. Forming beneath the two were glowing rings of light that quickly grew in intensity until they both flashed bright.

The chamber that the two shared was now empty, only the flickering light of the candles occupied the space.

-XXXX-

Ruby's day was going great.

She got to practice with Yang, she did some modifications to Crescent Rose, and the local baker overdid it on cookies so she got to take some home.

It was a great day.

It was bright out in Patch, the sky was cloudless, the air was warm, and a cool breeze flowed across the island. Ruby herself was walking home after picking up some snacks (and cookies) for her and her sister Yang. It was going to be a movie marathon night at the Xiao Long residence so she and her sister needed to gear up for a long night.

Ruby's mind ran through the list of movies they were going to watch, it was a lot to say the least.

Both she and Yang were going to pull an all-nighter tonight.

They could do it! It was still a month and a half before the next school year, so no biggie.

Caught up in her musings, Ruby didn't notice the figure standing still a few yards ahead on the trail.

Who of which Ruby promptly bumped into.

With a head bowed and hands together in prayer was a man standing in front of a stone shrine of sorts that reached just over his waist. A light green silk banner was draped over the front of the shrine.

The man who was lost in prayer was ripped from his meditation when he suddenly shifted from what felt like a small person.

Ruby, for her part, panicked and flailed her arms while stepping away quickly. She looked at what she collided with and her silver eyes locked with brown ones.

A moment of silence was shared between the two as they continued to look and stare at one another in bewilderment.

Ruby realizing what she had done was the first to react, "OhmygoshI'msorryIdidn'tmeantorunintoyouIwasn'tlookingatwhereIwasgoingpleasedon'tbemad!"

The words tumbled out of her mouth like an avalanche and leaving the man in utter confusion. He held up his hands in an attempt to stop the cascade of words.

"Whoa, whoa easy there it was an accident no need to panic."

Ruby stopped and got a better look at the man.

He was old but not like a grandpa old, judging by the wrinkling of his dark skin and the white streaks in his hair he was most likely in his fifties.

His eyes were a deep brown and conveyed age and wisdom. Freckles were dotted around his face reaching to his neck and likely the rest of his body.

The man didn't wear anything flashy or unique opting for a simple green dress shirt and jeans.

Around his neck hung a necklace that featured a spiked circle surrounding a winged heart.

As Ruby took in his appearance, the man spoke once more, "Now, why are ya running into people on the road? There should be plenty of room for everybody who wants to take a walk on a lovely day."

His voice held no malice instead there was a cheery tone to every word he spoke. This was surprising given that this man had his prayer interrupted so suddenly.

Ruby stared for a moment before regaining her voice, "Uh, I was just lost in thought is all, I didn't look where I was going." Embarrassment was plastered all over her face.

"Well it was a mistake so no harm no foul," the man responded in kind, "Just need to keep your eyes focused when you go walking about now."

"Heh heh, yeah my bad," Ruby rubbed the back of her head before asking, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you out in the middle of the road? If you don't want to answer that's fine I was just-"

Her nervous ramblings were interrupted by quiet chuckling from the man's mouth. "You're a funny one aren't ya? Well I don't mind your question so I'll tell ya."

He gestured to the stone shrine to his right and explained, "I was just givin' my prayers for the day before I got to work."

Ruby looked at the silk banner draped over the pile of carved stone. In its center was the same symbol that hung from the man's necklace.

"Why is your little rock thing all the way out here? Wouldn't it be easier to have it closer to town?"

The man frowned slightly and sighed, "As tolerant as the people of Patch are, when compared to the kingdoms, they still don't take kindly to an old religious man like myself. Especially, when ya share a faith that's branded as a 'Faunus Cult' by the greater population, it's just disrespectful."

Venom dripped from the man's mouth at the mention of 'Faunus Cult' and Ruby couldn't blame him. Hopefuls they were called.

While not religious herself, she understood that the false branding the Hopefuls received was because of the high number of Faunus in the religion. And with the blatant racism that many people still held against them, it was bound to happen.

Ruby frowned and nodded her head sadly, "I understand, but it doesn't seem to stop you any."

The man's smile returned and he laughed at that, "Ha ha, I suppose so. Well I was nice speaking with ya young miss, but I need to finish my meditations. So I guess this is where we part ways. That is unless you with to join me?"

She shook her head, "No thank you, I need to get home so my sister and I can go on a big movie marathon tonight."

"Well then don't let me keep ya," the man said before turning to the shine once more, "I hope ya have a good time with your sister!"

Ruby waved and then continued down the path toward the Xiao Long residence skipping and humming along the way.

It was roughly around two-a-clock by the time she reached home. Walking up the deck of the house she shouted, "I'm home!" before walking through the door.

Inside, Ruby was greeted by the sight of her sister lounging on the couch in front of their TV with a game controller in her hands. Yang ripped her eyes from the screen to look at who ever just barged in the house only to see her baby sister with a basket of goodies.

"Hey Rubes, got everything? Hope nothing happened on the way home," the bright blond greeted.

"Not really, just got everything from the store. I even got some free cookies from the bakery!" Ruby replied with cheer, "Although I did bump into a guy on the way home."

A coy smile graced Yang's lips, "Ooh, is my baby sister finally chasing boys?"

"Wh-No!" Ruby protested, head red like a tomato, "It was just some guy I ran into when I wasn't looking! Besides he was like fifty years old!"

"If that's the case then why was he in the middle of the road? Isn't that a bit, I don't know, strange?"

"W-well when I bumped into him he was praying at one of those rock piles with the banner."

Yang raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Really, one of those, oh what did Dad call them, Hopefuls was here?"

Ruby nodded, "Probably. He seemed nice though."

"Careful Ruby, Dad doesn't want us getting involved with them. He still thinks that they indoctrinate people against their will," replied Yang rolling her eyes.

Much like Ruby, Yang didn't have anything against the Hopefuls in fact she understood why people went to them in the first place. Remnant offered very little in the way comforts with the whole 'Grimm trying to wipe out humanity' thing. Anything that helped ease people's minds was often taken up without much of a fuss.

That was precisely the reason why Faunus composed a large portion of the Hopefuls' population. Being downtrodden as they were, a community of people who didn't care about what you looked like was a greeting with open arms.

Why her dad was apprehensive about it was beyond her. It certainly wasn't about the Faunus that's for sure.

Ruby shook her head, "Well it doesn't really matter anyway, I just bumped into the guy. It's not like I signed up or anything."

She then turned to the basket she had placed on the coffee table and started to pull out a bunch of different snack foods and drinks.

"I got everything we're going to need for our awesome n' greatest movie marathon, I even got a bunch of cookies from the bakery in town!" she held out a pink box wrapped with a little bow and shook with excitement.

Yang just sighed and shook her head. A smile made its way on her face, typical of her little sister to get excited about a box of cookies.

The little hooded girl suddenly stopped her vibrating and looked around.

"Hey, where's Dad? I thought he was going to watch everything with us today?"

Yang breathed out and rubbed the back of her head, "He got caught up with work and everything. With the next school year coming up and everything he had to prep for new students."

Ruby's shoulders slumped and even her hair seemed to wilt somehow.

"Aww, that's not fair. I wanted all of us to watch everything together."

"Sorry Ruby it's just going to be you and me for now. Besides it's not like he'll be gone forever."

"But it won't be the same!"

Yang's face suddenly went coy, "Well we could invite that boy you we're staring at, in the Vale mall that one day."

"Wha- I- I was just looking at his gun sword he had, it wasn't like I was looking at him!" Ruby sputtered in protest. Her face had grown red like a tomato again.

Yang just waved her hand dismissively, "Sure, whatever you say baby sis."

"Shut up!"

-XXXX-

"She right there just shoot her!"

"I can't I'll hit everyone that's in the way!"

"We don't have a choice we need t-"

The White fang member's voice was cut off when the hilt of a heavy falchion made contact with his skull. A loud CRACK followed suit. The second member jumped back in surprise.

"Oh shit!"

She looked at her partner to see the falchion had cracked his skull open killing him almost instantly. She then looked to the thrown blade on the floor.

The black steel with intricate carvings on the flat and the light green and leather bound hilt lay on the floor just above her partner's lifeless body. Blood stained the lower part of the grip, evidence of its death blow.

The White Fang grunt looked to the scene of carnage in front of her and griped her rifle tightly.

In the midst of a big pile up was a woman clad in some kind of armor jump over and dodging attacks from her fellow White Fang members. They were all fighting with melee weapons, all their guns were cleaved in half laying uselessly on the floor, in an attempt to strike the aggressor down.

It, however, didn't matter as everyone was being cut down left and right by that wicked metal fan as it blocked and deflected attacks.

Why was this happening? Who was this person?

The only answer the grunt received was to have a body thrown at her, knocking her back a few feet.

She groaned and tried to move the dead body off of her not noticing the sudden lack of conflict and the heavy footsteps getting closer.

With a shove the grunt removed the body of her once ally and started to get up., only for a black falchion to press itself against her throat.

The White Fang grunt froze and slowly looked up to see the armored assailant standing above her holding the falchion. What she saw on the chest piece of the armor made her blood run cold.

A winged heart with two teardrops below it, surrounded by a spiked circle.

Looking to the person's face, she was greeted by the sight of glowing silver eyes of a helmet. It felt like those eyes were judging her very soul.

"W-Why are you at-attacking us?" the White Fang grunt stammered out.

The figure did not speak, instead opting to continue to stare at the terrified grunt. After a moment they responded.

"You White Fang are perverting the love that my mistress hat deinen Leuten angeboten. You twist her words to gather fuel for your war with no consideration for the consequences. And for that alone, the White Fang must be punished."

What her attacker said next terrified her even more.

"As an Overseer of the mother of all, it is my duty to protect her teachings and those that she looks after."

This was wrong, everything about this was wrong! She thought that the White Fang was the 'Sword for Hopefuls' that's what she and the rest of the recruits were told. It's what was drilled into them throughout their training and induction; their leaders couldn't have lied to them could they!?

The figure raised the heavy blade ready to pierce the grunts heart. In response she threw her hands out in panic.

"W-wait wait please! I thought the White Fang acted for Hopefuls, I-I wanted to protect everyone!" Tears streamed down from her eyes behind the mask she wore.

The Overseer stopped and stared again, blade hovering just above the grunts heart. Their eyes, those glowing sliver eyes, pierced her very being.

"…Explain"

Nodding, the grunt slowly took her mask off to expose her true face to her judge.

"My-my family had always been devout followers of 'The Words of Hope', b-but we had been supporters of the White Fang for awhile as well. We were told that the White Fang acted as the hand of o-our faith. They said they could protect us and bring peace with humanity," the grunt paused looking for a reaction out of the person above her. When they moved their weapon away from her heart she continued, "I-I signed up be-because I wanted to help make a difference for every Faunus out there, ya-ya know? I wanted to protect everyone I cared for."

The Overseer was quiet and barely moved; their helmeted head remained locked to her face. What felt like hours passed, and all the White Fang grunt could do was pant in fear.

"…"

"I agree. Sie spricht wahrheitsgemäß."

What?

The Overseer flicked the metal fan in her hand folding it and then sheathed it to their side. The heavy falchion joined right after on their back.

Then the grunt was surprised when the Overseer moved to her left and squatted next to her semi-prone form.

They then asked, "You truly believe you're doing the right thing don't you?"

All she could do was nod.

"I've seen your soul and your conviction to The Words of Hope. I now see that you were fooled in believing the actors of the White Fang like so many others."

The Overseer gently took the grunt's hand and placed their other hand over it.

"Your faith for Her words are to be admired, and for that you shall be given a chance to redeem yourself," their touch was gentle, "What is your name?"

"M-Mercy."

The Overseer nodded and let go of her hand, "Then Mercy, you shall be a vessel for our Goddesses words and im weiteren Sinne ihre Liebe."

"Th-thank y-"

Before Mercy could utter her thanks, Delilah touched her forehead with a glowing finger and carefully lowered her head to the ground. Mercy's eyes slowly closed shut, putting her to sleep.

Delilah stood and surveyed her work.

Small fires burned and bodies of the unconscious and dead were scattered everywhere. With this, the White Fang base was decimated and the leaders killed leaving the regional agents without direction or orders.

A job well done.

Delilah then returned gaze to the sleeping Mercy who was peacefully resting her troubled mind.

It hurt Delilah to know that the White Fang would use her lady's words to trick honest hearts like Mercy's. She, like many others, put themselves wholly to The Words of Hope only to be manipulated by dark hearts and depraved souls.

In time she would see them all free.

"Their deaths will wiegt schwer auf meiner Seele."

"…"

"Ich kenne, that's why we need to stop them before they plunge the world into chaos."

"…"

Delilah would have sneered if she could, "That whore was pushed to such an extreme because of what they did. Ich nehme an, du hattest recht in assuming that they never truly cared for any of them."

With her work done, Delilah moved to exit the hidden base only for the large freight doors to break open. Then a dozen or so androids stormed in, weapons drawn and pointing at her.

Atlas, of course.

Behind the machine soldiers entered a woman dressed in a heavy white coat and what looked like combat high-heel boots of all things. Flanking her followed two human soldiers armed with rifles.

Sheathed to the woman's side was a rapier of some kind making it clear she was the most important person here.

Joy, one of those graced Delilah's presence.

The white haired woman looked around in surprise, as did the two living soldiers. Clearly they weren't expecting the amount of devastation in the room.

Then her sky blue eyes fell to Delilah. They immediately sharpened when she looked at her showing the experience of a warrior. She was ready and focused, looking for any sudden movements on Delilah's part.

'_Das wird schwierig_,' Delilah thought to herself reaching for the ring of her war fan.

-XXXX-

Winter Schnee was expecting there to be a heavy White Fang presence when she and her retinue arrived at this hidden outpost, an old mining facility. So it was to her surprise when she found dead bodies of White Fang soldiers scattered near the entrance.

I was even more surprising to find that all of them were killed with nary a scratch on them. Whoever attacked did so with surgical precision as not a single blow seemed to be wasted.

Their sweep though the rest of the base had the same results, dead guards.

It would seem that Winter's mission to raid and recover the White Fang ring leaders in this sector failed. The bodies of her targets were found beheaded in what seemed like a meeting room.

That frustrated her to no end, made her angry even. For months they had been carefully tracking White Fang movements in southern Atlas to find this base and apprehend their leaders for interrogation. And for months Winter had to step on eggshells to confirm and authenticate any and all intel she received.

Now everything she had done was all in vain.

Winter was never one to lash out in anger, but hot damn did she need to punch something.

General Ironwood wouldn't be happy, not in the slightest.

But just as she was gaoing to call in her tech expert called for her attention.

"Specialist Schnee!" the man called looking at his PDA, "I'm getting some kind of readings from the freight bays at the North end of the complex."

"Reading? You sure it isn't just a left over stockpile of Dust?" Winter responded.

"Negative on that, these reading are off the scale! Whatever it is its jumbling my sensors, I can't identify what it is."

"Maybe it's a radar jammer. Boys back at Juno said they lost a few when they got raided," spoke the other agent. He was a demolitions expert, someone they would have needed if the doors of the complex weren't all breached.

"Whatever it is we should investigate," Winter replied. This anomaly might have answers for what happened here.

Winter looked to the Knights and ordered, "Get down there and secure the area."

They beeped in confirmation and began to move down the hallways toward the freight bays.

Winter turned to the two agents and said, "Follow close," before running after the robots.

When the three Atlas agents reached the entryway doors they discovered them to be locked shut. But more importantly was the body of another White Fang HVT by the doors. Blood smeared the control panel and pooled underneath the corpse. It looked as if he attempted to seal whatever was inside the freight bay and succeeded.

Wiping off the blood from the panel the tech expert tried to open the doors, but with no success, "Can't disengage the locking mechanism, whatever he did activated a hard-lock. We're going to have to blow it open."

Winter turned to the demo expert, "You heard him, heavy breaching charges: high yield."

"Heh, you got it boss," he replied smirking.

The demolitions expert got to work placing four charges at the corners of the doors before placing a larger charge in the middle. He began to fiddle with the charge's interface.

"Was it red, red, green or red, green, red?" the demolitions expert asked himself.

"And he calls himself a demolitions expert," muttered the other agent.

Winter just rolled her eyes and readied herself.

"Alright, charges set!"

The breaching charges began to chime as everyone and the Knights moved away from the door.

"Get ready!" Winter announced.

The chiming intensified more and more before all five of them blew, blowing the heavy doors down and filling the hallway with smoke.

"Knights move in and secure the room!"

At her orders, the knights raised their weaponized arms and quickly moved in. As they all fanned out into the room the smoke began to clear giving the three human operatives sight. And what they saw was surprising to say the least.

Winter looked around the large freight bay and saw only devastation. Metal moving crates were toppled over or smashed, old crane equipment was ruined, small fires burned everywhere, and numerous bodies of White Fang soldiers littered the floor and balconies.

Just from glancing, Winter could tell that there were at least twenty to thirty bodies. Then her eyes locked on an armored individual standing near the back wall.

Right then Winter's training kicked in as she analyzed the person. Whoever they were, they certainly weren't White Fang. The green armor looked almost slapdash and cobbled together. Every part of this person's body was covered in armor or some kind of heavy looking cloth. Their helmet encased the entire head and a vicious silver glow burned through the eye holes.

But the thing that caught Winter's attention the most was the icon proudly embroidered on the chest plate. It featured a winged heart with two teardrops below it, encompassed in a circle with four spikes pointed like a compass.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd seen that symbol before.

But right now that didn't matter, because whoever was standing before them was likely the reason why everyone here was dead.

The hand slowly drifting toward a metal object on their hip was a clear indication of cautions aggression.

"Freeze, don't move!" Winter ordered.

The individual's hand froze right over the object, but didn't pull away. It was primed to grasp and draw with a flick of a wrist. They stood in place and said nothing. Winter figured they were inspecting them like she did, but the helmet they wore blocked any hope of tracking their eyes.

After a tense moment Winter addressed the unknown, "This was a heavily guarded White Fang outpost and your obviously not part of the White Fang. So I'm going to ask: Did you do all this?"

Winter gestured to the ruined state of the room and waited for a response from the armored individual.

They didn't respond.

"It would be in your best interest to answer the lady," the demolitions expert said from the right of Winter.

Their target paid him no mind and kept their eyes locked on the Specialist, knowing that she was the largest threat here.

"We're not your enemies. I am specialist Winter Schnee of the Atlas Military, we came here under a mission to clear this base," she gesture for everyone to lower their weapons, "There is no need for us not to resolve this peacefully."

By then all the Knights and lowered their arms, as did the two agents, but everyone was ready to bring them up if things got messy.

The individual remained in place and hadn't moved.

Just then, the tech agent quietly addressed Winter, "Specialist, those energy readings are emanating from them."

Now that was interesting, all the more reason to get this person back to Ironwood.

Winter's gaze returned to the individual once more, "Look if you were responsible for what happened here then I'm going to ask that you come with us back to base and get everything sorted out."

It wasn't much of a request, but this person likely had the information they needed. And it they were responsible for the deaths of all of the HVTs then Ironwood would have many questions.

"Was würdest du sagen, was ich tue?"

Winter blinked. That wasn't a language she recognized at all. Furthermore, the voice speaking those words indeed came from the individual. If the tone of the voice was to be believed then the person standing in front of them was a woman.

"What did she say?" whispered the agent to her right.

The figure continued, "Fein. It would be best if both of us walked away from this mess without conflict. I'm more than willing to avoid any more interactions with your masters if you leave me alone, Soldat."

The accent of their voice was heavy and made it obvious that she wasn't speaking her native language. But the deal they offered was unacceptable to Winter. An unknown operating with complete autonomy was asking for trouble.

Winter drew her rapier as the two agents and the Knights raised their own weapons. "I'm afraid I can't allow that to happen you're the only person who might be able to give us what we wanted from here. So I'm not going to ask again: Come with us or else!"

The figure returned to silence once more. After a moment they responded with, "A shame," before, what Winter could only describe as, teleporting in front of two 130s and cutting them apart with a heavy looking blade in their right hand.

The Atlesian Knights immediately aimed and opened fire at the aggressor. In response the target raised the metal object and flicked it to reveal it to be a fan. It blocked the incoming bullets and with another flick of the wrist some bullets were deflected back destroying two more Knights.

The two human agents fired their rifles as well but couldn't land a hit as their target dodged and weaved while closing in on more of the robots present.

Another two Knights were cut in half with a single horizontal swipe form the person's falchion before they could deploy their blades. The attacker then back flipped high in the air over Winter and her companions and landed on the opposite side of them.

It became clear to Winter that, whoever this was, she was targeting their support before focusing down on them. All everything that happened up to this point lead Winter to conclude to one thing: they were dealing with a highly skilled, rouge huntress.

Acting quickly as more Knights were destroyed, Winter charged forward activating her semblance. Glyphs appeared around the armored attacker locking them in place before Winter used another glyph to surge forward and thrusting their rapier.

Right before she made contact, the attacker raised the metal fan and deflected the blow before kicking Winter in the abdomen and away from herself. The glyphs faded allowing them to jump forward, just missing getting hit by a steam of bullets from the remaining Atlesian Knights.

The two agents had to dodge away from the fast movements of their assailant before aiming and firing their rifles again. Most of the shots missed, but one hit its mark on the person's helmet. A TWANG ricocheted through the air as the bullet was deflected by the armor. They both paused a moment in realization.

The tech expert called out, "Specialist, she has no Aura!"

Having picked herself from the ground, Winter was shocked to hear that. 'No Aura? How can that be?' The was no way this person had no Aura with the in human speeds that they could move at. 'Perhaps they ran out fighting the White Fang here." It was the only rationalization Winter could make right now.

Gathering herself, the Specialist ran to the new HVT in the room once again. All of the Knights accompanying them had now all been destroyed leaving Winter and the agents.

With the lesser distractions gone the armored huntress began to barrel down on the agent. They both dodged and ducked her attacks while trying to make distance with the large sharp blade attempting to break skin.

The demolitions expert, having made distance, opened fired at the back of their attacker. "Eat fire Dust bitch!" he bellowed as he held trigger.

A number of rounds made contact with the back plate covering half of the rouge huntresses back before two managed to dig themselves into her shoulders. They recoiled in pain electing a cry of fury before they suddenly turned on a dime.

Before he knew it the huntress swiped their heavy falchion upward holding the long grip with two hands. A sharp pain flared in his right arm as he saw his gun get launched away.

His right arm flying away with it.

Then the pain tripled.

An anguished roared from his mouth as he fell on his back griping the bleeding stump that use to be his arm.

The rouge huntress had returned to her previous target trying to cut him down as well, attacking with both fan and blade.

Winter's eye widened as she rushed forward. Everything had happened so fast, it was almost impossible to keep track of everything, but right now one of her subordinates had just lost an arm and the other was about to be struck as well.

Reacting quickly, Winter summoned a glyph in-between the rouge huntress and the agent. The attack was deflected from surprise and then in a flurry of swings she managed to get the huntress away from the agents.

"Get medical on him now!" Winter ordered.

As the tech expert ran to in partner Winter dueled the huntress. Their attacks were colliding with each other blocking, parrying, and deflecting each other's strikes in an attempt to get an edge on their opponent. Winter managed to push the huntress to the defensive with her glyphs as she continued to apply pressure. The rouge huntress, to Winter's surprise, grabbed her arm and swung her into a wall.

Then the huntress raised her right arm attempting a downward swipe before Winter, knowing that this next attack would likely cut through her Aura, suddenly lashed out with a powerful slash. It knocked her assailant back several feet, as their boots attempted to stop the momentum.

A large, deep gash had been made just below the huntress's chest plate. When she finally did stop, she fell to her knees and tried to use the falchion to steady herself and her left arm wrapped around the wound. Gasping could be heard from beneath her helmet as she attempted to regain her breath.

It didn't matter however, the wound was fatal.

Winter approached the wounded huntress, knowing that they were in not condition to fight anymore, only to have a hand urge her to stop.

"No. it's done," a gasping voice implored her.

Winter shook her head, "No it isn't you need medical attention. You still have answers we're looking for."

The dying figure chuckled before responding, "I can't give you anything, but she can."

With a slight head gesture, Winter was shocked to see that one of the bodies in the freight bay was, in fact, breathing.

"Her name is Mercy. Keep my mistress's disciple safe."

With that, the last of the huntress's life slipped away as she fell to the ground with a thump. The Specialist was about to confirm her death when the body began to glow a faded silver.

Winter stepped back in surprise as she watched the body slowly fade away into nothing.

Nothing remained, not ever the huntress's weapons.

"Is-is that normal?" asked the tech expert.

No it wasn't. None of this was.

Winter sighed and shook her head. This was going to be hard to explain to General Ironwood.

* * *

**Well that concludes this chapter. **

**This took me way longer than I wanted, but it's done. **

**And I edited the first chapter, I didn't make many changes just some grammatical edits and some new additions. **

**Expect 'The Word of Hope' to be a major factor in this story and referenced often.**

**I don't know if I did Mercy's part done right, maybe I could have done a better job with it idk. Let me know if it makes sense to everyone.**

**Anyway, feel free to leave any reviews or criticisms as I am always looking to improve my writing.**

**Also, if you want an idea of what Gale's armor looks like, just take a look at Brush dog's gallery at . I took inspiration from a design they made.**


	3. Ch3 Escalating Problems

"Riseth once m're. F'r thou art anon mine own champion of this w'rld"

Ch.3 Escalating Problems

**XXXX**

Winter was correct in believing that the mission's failure was going to be hard to explain to General Ironwood. As a man of practicality it was hard to persuade him of what had transpired at the abandoned mining facility.

An entire White Fang outpost being wiped out by a single individual was difficult to believe especially with a body count of fifty three. Granted, it was a rouge huntress who had carved her way through all of the guards and agents, but not even a hunter or huntress could do that kind of damage in one setting.

So here she was in an office trying to convince a man, who had a set-in-stone view of the world, that an individual whose skill was on par with a veteran huntress managed to not only incapacitate fifty three trained terrorists but to injure and hold up against three specially trained agents of the Atlesian Military? Winter was just glad that the video evidence from her accompanying agents helped provide the evidence Ironwood needed, not that it made him any happier.

"And this 'rouge huntress' just disappeared after you struck her?" the general asked.

James Ironwood was a man that easily lived up to his name. Standing at a towering six feet six inches and built like a brick wall, the general's appearance could easily quell any off attempt to attack him. His face was cleanly shaven and his black hair was combed and parted. The mountainous man's attire consisted of a long white over coat, a grey dress shirt with a red tie underneath, and white dress pants that folded into black boots.

Various decorative military honors and badges hung from Ironwood's coat signifying his status in the military hierarchy. A small metal plate was embedded into his forehead over his right brow. He also wore a single white glove over his right hand.

"Yes sir, I'm not sure if it was her semblance or outside interference, but the unknown just disappeared," Winter replied, "However, it's unlikely that she survived anyway as the wound I inflicted was fatal."

The general took a moment to gather his thoughts as Winter did the same. That was everything important right? Well it was likely that she would have had more information on the rouge huntress's actions before she arrived, but the facility's security cameras had long been destroyed. Without any way of identifying who that person was they were stumped.

"So that was it right? Nothing more, no identifying marks or tattoos?" the General asked once again hoping to jog some kind of memory.

Winter shook her head, "No sir, we couldn't even identify the HVT's gender before she spoke. Her entire body was canceled in some kind of makeshift armor with much of it a heavy cloth or what seemed to be chainmail. What armor she did have was spaced in specific locations, but bizarrely left vital organs unprotected."

The HVT's choice of armor was surely and odd thing to look at. Her abdomen was largely open to attack, being primarily covered by that heavy cloth. Although to be fair it did allow incredible flexibility and maneuverability when in combat, something that Winter and her subordinates experienced firsthand. Still, the cloth didn't stop her blade from slicing right through it.

The plate armor seemed to have a more practical purpose however, as it was worn in such a way where attacks that managed to get past her defenses could be deflected away. Winter gathered that the HVT used her armor like a tool more so than actual armor. Yet despite the makeshift appearance the armor had a resemblance to that of a knight form ages long past.

Winter thought hard on the armor and how it was detailed to a ridiculous degree. Intricate little details were on every part of the metal plating: the arms, the helmet, and especially the breast plate. That emblem embroidered onto the surface stood out when compared to the rest of the armor.

Maybe that's what they needed.

The specialist looked up to meet the General's gaze once more, "There was one thing that stood out on the HVT's armor sir."

Ironwood crooked and eyebrow, "And that would be?"

"On her breast plate was an icon that seemed familiar, but at the time I couldn't thing why," Winter explained, recalling her reaction, "It was a circle with four points like a compass that surrounded a winged heart and below the heart were to teardrops."

Winter watched as Ironwood's eyes widened slightly in recognition. He knew exactly where that icon was seen and who was associated with it.

"If what you said is true then that means a religion might be involved with this whole mess."

That-what?

A religion was involved? How was that conclusion applicable?

"A religion sir, which one do you mean?" It was the next logical question.

General Ironwood walked over to his desk and turned to his computer. After fiddling with it for a few minutes he addressed his subordinate. "The reason why it seems familiar is because the White Fang use this religion as a recruitment tool."

He turned the monitor to Winter as she got closer to see what he meant and low n' behold the winged heart was presented on a banner at a White Fang recruitment rally.

The picture taken was from an undercover agent during Winter's manhunt. On it was a White Fang recruiter on top of a stage yelling to a crowd of Faunus below him. Two guards stood to the sides gazing out to the gathering and blocking the stairs to the stage. Behind the recruiter was a white banner with the icon that covered a large portion of the back wall. The words "We are the Sword" were printed at the top of the banner.

A look crossed Winter's face, here was the connection but it did little to explain everything that had happened.

Thankfully Ironwood elaborated, "The only name we have associated to this faith is 'The Words of Hope'. From what our records state it was established a few years after the Great War and that it has spread to each of the kingdoms in varying strength. It's estimated that at least fifty six percent of the world's population follow the faith and eighty four percent of that consists of Faunus followers. Hens the reason why the White Fang are able to use it as a recruiting tool so easily as many humans call it a 'Faunus cult'."

Those numbers were actually a little surprising, fifty percent of the world population following a religion, let alone one at all, was something that she didn't expect. Although, this was an estimation, the actual number could be more or less.

Yet one thing still bugged Winter, "Do we know exactly what this religion teaches? Perhaps that's another reason why the White Fang has had such success with it."

It was a good question. If the doctrines of a religion promoted violence, even to a small degree, it would make support for the faction way easier.

Ironwood shook his head slightly, "That the thing though, from what we can tell the doctrines of 'The Words of Hope' promote peace and unity with everyone who can think or reason. It promises hope to the hopeless and that is the reason how the White Fang have managed to manipulate people. By painting themselves as the image of hope for the Faunus, they can claim to work within the faith's interests."

"I see, that explains the why, but the White Fang had been using it as an excuse for years now, so why did they just now provoke such a violent response?"

"From the testimonies of informants and Hopefuls themselves, the thing that makes this religion so unique is the fact that it has no official centralized authority like other religions of the past. Its worship is expected by the individual rather that a collective. With that reasoning, it's not hard to guess at why there aren't any recognized religious officials. So it makes this whole situation with the HVT even more worrying."

Winter cocked an eyebrow, "Worrying sir?"

"Yes, very worrying," the General responded as his face turned serious, "If this person was acting on their own accord then we could simply explain it as so. But the attack on the White Fang was carried out by a professional which leads me to believe that the 'Words' have a centralized organization and it been hidden for nearly eighty years."

That was, indeed, a very worrying reality. The implications of a religious organization that managed to hide any form of coherency from the four kingdoms had the potential of being a threat almost as bad as the Grimm.

It would seem that Winter's upcoming headache wasn't going to leave any time soon.

All of this because she and her team just so-happened to stumble upon an unknown individual who had ties to the largest religious faction on Remnant in recent memory. And to make matters worse, they'd have to gather information of a new faction from the ground up.

At least with the White Fang the Atlesian Military had plenty of info of how they operate.

The General spoke once more, "Until we can gather new information on the 'Words' the White Fang will remain as our focus. If these unknowns are waging some kind of ghost war with the terrorist group then we'll likely come across more information passively."

Both Winter and the General stood before each other once more. "I want you to continue operations against White Fang cells within Atlas' borders. The loss of an entire base is likely going to temporarily decrease their activity and push them into hiding until the heat dies down, so I want you to bolster intelligence gathering operations. If anything else comes up I'll contact you directly. Is that clear Specialist?"

Winter snapped to attention, raising her right hand to her head in salute as years of training suddenly kicked in, "Yes sir."

The General nodded as she turned to leave his office. Looks like there was going to be a lot of work ahead of them in the future.

-XXXX-

Once Winter had left his office Ironwood allowed himself a sigh, just what he needed a possibility of another extremist group. Granted, this truly could have been an isolated incident with one cross individual, but deep down he knew that wasn't the case.

If there was anything he learned from working with Ozpin is that it's never just one person. _She _had a following that worked behind the curtain much like Ozpin so it wouldn't be a surprise to find a third face hidden amongst the multitudes of underground conflicts. One thing he was certain of was that 'The Words of Hope' were nothing but an extremist group like the White Fang. It was very likely that they, whoever they were, didn't have a single idea about the conflict waging quietly behind everyone's backs would decide the fate of Remnant as a whole.

That would be to say that if they even knew about what was going on.

But even then, the 'Words' were a potential threat to the delicate balance of peace between the four kingdoms either intentionally or not. And with a storm on the horizon, Ironwood couldn't let a distraction like that running about unchecked.

With that in mind the General made is way out of his office while pulling out his scroll.

The face of a soldier appeared on the screen.

"Major," Ironwood greeted, "I'm heading to the holding cells, what's the status of the prisoner?"

The Major responded, "Sir, the prisoner has awoken and is awaiting interrogation. She hasn't said a word to anybody and has been mumbling to herself. Would you like us to move her to an interrogation room?"

The General nodded, "Yes, have her ready by the time I arrive. We need information of this unknown party and she might be our only clue."

With that Ironwood deactivated his scroll and continued walking down the white corridors, soldiers saluted as he past them by. He paid them no mind as his thoughts were honed on the White Fang grunt they captured at the abandoned mine.

She was the only one left alive throughout the entire facility and she had remained largely untouched with only some minor bruising. For whatever reason, this member of the White Fang was singled out by their mysterious attacker and ironwood wanted to know why. She could be connected to the HVT in some way or could have been an insider to begin with.

Ironwood had questions and by the brother gods was he going to get answers.

He was brought out of his musings when a guard saluted, grabbing his attention, "Sir, the prisoner is waiting in the interrogation room as per your request. She hasn't said a word to anyone and keeps mumbling to herself, but otherwise she's been cooperative."

The General nodded, "Good, I'll interrogate the prisoner myself, everyone else to remain outside while the interrogation is ongoing."

"Sir, I would advise that-"

"I've given my orders."

The guard bowed his head, "Of course sir."

Once finally arriving at the interrogation observation room the General was met with more salutes. Four men and the Major were present.

"At ease men," Ironwood addressed, "Major, is everything ready?"

The Major nodded, "Everything is set and ready, we're just waiting for you to begin interrogating the prisoner."

Ironwood didn't miss the undertone of the Major's voice when referring to the Faunus sitting alone in the room. She looked frightened and ready to flee if it wasn't for the walls that surrounded her.

"I'll begin right now. No one is allowed to interrupt the interrogation unless it's something important or I call for you, everyone is to remain in this room until I have concluded. Is that clear?"

A chorus of 'Yes sir' responded to his command. With that Ironwood made his way to the room where the captured Faunus was waiting. Upon opening the door and walking in he could immediately tell that this grunt was a new recruit to the White Fang.

That or she was a convincing actor.

Her eyes tracked his movements as he made his way to the chair adjacent to her own. She was young, troublingly so, likely around her early twenties or even in her teens. Her blond hair was tied into a knotted ponytail that reached to her shoulders. Ironwood took note of her clasped hands; they were shaking ever so slightly. Finally he looked to the horns sprouting from her head marked her not only as a Faunus, but as a bull Faunus as well.

Ironwood couldn't help but find it ironic that he was currently sitting in front of Adam Taurus' polar opposite. The girl looked ready to pass out.

Sliding the metal chair from under the table the large man took a seat in front of the prisoner eyes locked onto her averted gaze. They sat in silence for a few moments before Ironwood spoke.

"Do you have a name?" the General asked.

His voice caused the Faunus to flinch and her head snapped up to look at him. Then she opened her mouth to speak, but her voice was so quiet that no one could hear what she said.

"Come again?"

"M-Mercy, sir," she tried again. Her voice was small, but it was audible.

The General nodded, "It's already clear that you're a member of the White Fang, which alone gives me enough reason to lock you up indefinably."

The girl flinched and looked away.

"But it's also within my power to cut you a deal if you're willing to cooperate. So with that in mind let's get started."

Hopefully, Ironwood could find some answers to this mess.

"First off," he said patiently, "I want to know what the White Fang's objective is in this region. Perhaps you can enlighten us?"

Mercy shook her head, "I can't say I know anything g about it."

An eyebrow was raised, "Oh? And why's that?"

"I-I only recently joined with the White Fang, they d-don't really tell new recruits much of anything," her fidgeting only increased under the General's steely gaze, "B-but I was sent here by a m-mistake. A logistics error Jack called it."

"Who is this Jack?"

"He-he was the base commander before…"

Her voice went quiet again and her eyes became distant, I would seem that she was recalling the events that lead to her incarceration.

Ironwood snapped his fingers, "Hey focus, before what?"

Mercy flinched once again, "B-before an angel came."

Now that wasn't a description that he was expecting. It was obvious that she was talking about their unknown attacker, but calling them an angel was not something a lucid individual would say.

A disbelieving look crossed the Generals face, "An Angle," he deadpanned, "Look I get that you're a Hopeful and that whoever attacked you was some kind of religious enforcer, but you need to look at this rationally. I can't help someone who's deemed insane."

It became clear that maybe he could have worded that better when Mercy's demeanor changed almost on a dime. Her eyes became sharp and her mouth formed into a light snarl.

"You have no right to speak in such away to what you wouldn't understand!" she was almost yelling, "You can't fathom what people have to live in the settlements outside of the walled cities, and even when we are safely away from the creatures of Grimm we barely scrape by because of our heritage! People like you with never know because you all live in the highest forms of society far away from everyone who suffers!"

Mercy's hands were clenched into fists as she stared down one of the most powerful men on Remnant.

Said man just looked back at her with mild surprise.

But just as the sudden wave of confidence appeared, Mercy's character returned to the timid and nervous girl before. Now, however, she looked down right fearful.

"I-I I'm sorry, I-I don't know where t-that-"

Ironwood cut her off with a raised hand. This girl looked to be on the verge of tears.

A moment passed before the General responded with a calm voice, "Its fine. I stepped over a line and I could have worded myself better anyway. We'll just skip that for now. Just tell about what happened at the mining facility."

Mercy hesitantly nodded and then began to explain the events leading to her be rendered unconscious.

Hopefully Ironwood could get some answers out of this.

-XXXX-

After her talk with the most powerful man she would likely ever see in her life, Mercy was escorted back to her cell by two guards. Once there she pressed her back against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor as her eyes welled up in tears.

What the hell was she thinking? Talking like that to a man that could easily order her execution at a moment's notice was not how you live long as a prisoner.

She was going to spend the rest of her life in an Atlas cell block; all because she believed those recruiters for the White Fang about being the protective sword for the Faunus members of her faith. Now she was here in Atlas where she would likely never be free again.

She wasn't even supposed to be here in the first place. If it wasn't because of a logistical fuck up she would likely be back in Mistral with the rest of the new recruits.

But none of that mattered now, it would be here that likely years would pass by and Mercy wouldn't even know it.

The General shared, in no uncertain terms, the reasons why the White Fang were regarded as a terrorist organization. The few details he provided only engrained in her the reality of its actions.

It was points like these that Mercy wished that she hadn't lived such a sheltered life back at her village. Her parents only doubled down on that after her brother's death. They even told her to stay away from the White Fang, but she still bought into their bullshit.

What would she tell them if she ever saw them again? Could she even bare to face them?

With any luck, the information she gave the General would ease her time here at the very least.

She told him everything: why she was at the mines, what she heard the other members talk about, what happened when the angle arrived and started killing everyone, and even how the base's commander tried to lock her and several others in the cargo bay in an attempt to save his own life. Yet, despite all that she only had her faith in the Lady left to fall on.

Mercy clutched the pendant hanging from her neck, thankful that she was allowed to keep it at the very least. The familiar felling of a winged heart in her hands gave her comfort in her cold and quiet cell.

Despair still clawed at her heart.

Looking up to the ceiling, as if she could see the sky past it, she begged, "Please, please tell me. Why did she leave me here?"

Tears freely ran down her cheeks as she awaited a response she knew she wouldn't receive.

The young bull Faunus curled up on the floor and continued to weep.

"…"

She heard it.

It was…a voice.

It was so quite, but it sounded like it came from inside the cell.

"…"

It was a little louder this time what was it?

"…"

"…"

…

…

Then at the back of her mind, Mercy heard a divine voice whisper a single word to her.

"_Vessel"_

-XXXX-

Amber's eyes still couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. A garden, bigger than any she had seen before, was before her under a peaceful, cloudy sky. Flowers she had never seen before bloomed to their brightest in a collection of vivid colors.

Marble pillars lined the edges of the garden in an orderly and neat fashion. They all looked spaced equally apart.

The beauty of it all prevented Amber from moving as she just took in the sights before her.

"My lady's garden has an allure to the eyes doesn't it?" asked a feminine voice behind her.

Amber turned to look at her winged companion who had walked up to stand beside her.

The light green robes that covered her entire body flowed with the breeze that blew peacefully by. The woman's hands were still clasped together in prayer as her head bowed slightly. Her face was pristine, as if it was sculpted out of the smoothest porcelain, and her hair seemed to glow with an ethereal light. She still had yet to open her eyes when Amber woke upon that table, but a smile graced her flawless face.

Most prominently, however, were her massive wings that extended from her back and contently folded behind her. Like her hair, they glowed with the same ethereal light laminating the dark opening of the temple they had just exited.

"She prides herself with the care she is able to give to the flowers upon which we now stand amongst."

She was right, there wasn't a path or a walkway they could walk on as to not disturb the flowers.

That begged the question of how Amber was supposed to meet with this 'lady' that her companion kept mentioning.

As if sensing her question the winged person spoke, "Simply walk the garden, she will be just ahead. I shall await here for your return."

Amber looked confused, but then took a step forward with her bare foot and to her amazement the flowers parted to avoid getting stepped on.

Looking back at her companion she uttered a weak, "How?"

The winged individual did not speak or even acknowledge her question which prompted Amber to walk forward. With every step the flowers parted allowing her to walk on the grass rather than the flowers.

She walked to the edge of the garden, which rose up a hill, as a humming she hadn't noticed before began to become more and more audible. By the time she reached the crest of the hill Amber could hear the humming more clearly and soon gazed upon the source of the harmonious humming at the bottom of the hill.

Stranding at the very edge of the garden was the tallest person that Amber had ever seen. Draped in a long green robe with darker green trimming, not unlike her winged companion, was a figure turned away from Amber tending to the flowers at their feet. Amber's eyes were immediately drawn to the pair of mighty pinions extending from their back. They were so large in fact that the bottom most feathers caressed the ground with every movement.

If she had to guess, Amber could assume that this figure was the 'lady' her companion was talking about.

Then, much to Amber's chagrin, the humming stopped as the figure rose from their crouched position and spoke, "Thee has't questions upon thy mind. Cometh, standeth by mine own side and we shalt conv'rse."

Her speech was very hard for Amber to follow. The refinement in tone would make the snobbiest noble of Atlas blush in jealousy.

With no other option that she could see, Amber made her way just behind the robed figure. The immense feeling of power that radiated off of their person was overwhelming, yet a sense of calm and security also flowed from her.

They stood in silence as for a moment before Amber gathered her courage to speak first.

"Who…who are you?" she asked.

The tall lady giggled as she replied, "At each moment the first questioneth to grace the lips of any I summon. But to answ'r thy qu'ry I am known by many a' nameth. Some calleth me 'Lady', others 'the Greateth Garden'r', more 'Beacon of the Lost', and coequal 'Goddess of Hope' yet I pref'r mine own real title."

As the figure turned to face the bewildered Maiden, the light emanating from under the hood of robe became evident. Yet the light was not blinding nor searing. The only way it could be described as was comforting.

"Please calleth me Mother."

* * *

**This chapter took way to long, so for that I'm sorry.**

**I would have gotten this out sooner but a new job tends to throw a wrench into time management. **

**That and nearly loosing an eye. Fun week.**

**Anyway I finally got to give you all a glimpse of the newest player in Remnant. One that doesn't sugar coat details with lies and sprinkles.**

**I just hope I got Ironwood right, I feel like I didn't get is personality right in this chapter. Let me know what you guys think.**

**In the mean time I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I'll get the next one out quicker. No promises.**

**As always reviews and critiques are always appreciated. **


	4. Ch4 Faithful

"Thou art a curse. Thee playeth those folk liketh puppets, convinced of thy owneth supremacy."

* * *

Ch.4 Faithful

**XXXX**

The life of a champion is one filled with glory, wealth, recognition, and above all else fame. Becoming an arena champion could make a person one of the most prestigious individuals on Remnant, just below the wealthy business men and women of Atlas. In Mistral, however, the champion of the arena was considered an avatar of Mistral pride and represented the best the kingdom had to offer.

The current champion, young Pyrrha Nikos, loathed everything about it.

There was a time when she was overjoyed to have become the champion of Mistral; to have achieved such a lofty goal was a sign of only the best out of all. With encouragement from her parents and steel hard determination she came out on top and allowed to reap all that came with it. The fame, glory, wealth, and recognition were all her's as well as the unbearable loneliness that she was now trapped in.

No one saw Pyrrha Nikos as Pyrrha Nikos anymore. Now she was "Champion of Mistral, Pyrrha Nikos" the pride of Mistral. Every time she walked down the street people would swarm her asking for autographs and to give her praises without bothering to ask how her day was. All of her fans were nothing more than a sea of empty faces that didn't care for her, just her title. Praise the champion in hopes of making an impact in her life, shake her hand and become a compatriot to an influential figure, claim to be her friend and become just as famous as her.

Pyrrha was stuck on a raft in the middle of an ocean with no water to drink.

She couldn't just give up her title either so she seemed forever bound to it until someone could take it from her. There has yet to be someone who could last five minutes with her in the arena.

The stress of the crowds never ended and the loneliness kept gnawing on her mind, she felt like her mind was going to break.

That was until she found faith.

"Children of the Great Mother" they called themselves, a religion for those seeking hope. The scriptures stated that all are under the watchful eye of the Great Mother and all can feel her love by loving her in return. A religion that based its tenants around hope in the world of Remnant was bound to take off for those looking for a distraction of their reality and for those casted away by society.

She remembered how she found this faith. It was right after a match with another challenger, one she had easily dealt with.

-XXXX-

"Match! Winner: Pyrrha Nikos!" declared the referee.

The crowd erupted in applause and cheers. Pyrrha waved to the crowd as champions do.

Her challenger, a young man around her age, staggered to his feet and attempted to right himself.

"And with this victory, Pyrrha Nikos remains the undefeated champion! Thus ends this year's tournament!"

The crowds cheering became louder as the challenger walked back to the arena entrance head held low. Pyrrha couldn't help but notice the look of shame that was plastered on his face.

After the standard winning ceremony that Pyrrha was now accustomed too, she made her way to the contestant locker rooms to remove herself from her armor and the crowds. There she saw her latest opponent sitting down on a bench head still bowed and unmoving. The champion had seen many of her opponents act in such a way before, but this seemed different.

Slowly she walked up behind the boy and greeted him, "Greetings, it was a pleasure to have faced you tonight, you fought well."

The young man didn't acknowledge her.

Pyrrha stood there awkwardly waiting for a response and after a moment she got one.

"You don't need to patronize me. I don't need your pity," came his response.

The champion was stunned by the sudden and snippy reply, "W-What? No I was just-"

In an instant the young man stood up and turned to face Pyrrha. His expression was one of pure anger and it was directed at her.

"I don't need you reminding me of how I clawed my way up only to fail right at the end because of you!" His words came out like a torrent of needles, "An entire year I spent training, dedicating myself to winning this stupid tournament hoping that I'd actually be able to accomplish something in my life!"

"Wait, hold no-"Pyrrha tried to speak but was cut off again.

"But no of course not, I had to lose to the 'Champion of Mistral' at the last stretch like all the others!" He pushed his face closer to Pyrrha's, "It must be so easy for you huh? All you probably see is a bunch of ants walking up to get stepped on!"

The champion took a step back trying to speak only to get cut off again.

"Because of you I won't get this chance again, I'll never amount up to something! No matter what I do I'll just be forgotten as another person who challenged the, oh so mighty, Pyrrha Nikos!" His last words were mocking.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, was confused by that statement, "What do you mean? You can just try next tor-"

She was cut off once more as the irate young man raged again, "No I don't want to hear 'try the next tournament'," he pointed to his chest, "I don't have a next tournament, don't you get it? This was my **LAST** chance to make a name for myself and now it's gone."

His breathing was heavy from his loud rant as he stared at Pyrrha, his look of anger only softening out of fatigue. Pyrrha could only stand in shock of what happened. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly trying to find words to speak but nothing came out.

The silence was broken when he spoke once more, "I hope you enjoy your damned title, I hope it's the only thing you get in your life."

With those final words he shoved her away and walked out of the locker room.

Pyrrha couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. Her mind desperately tried to comprehend all that had happened. Then the realization of that last remark hit her and it was like a stab to the heart.

Those words rumbled around in her head as the champion set off toward home, unfortunately her way home wasn't much better as a storm of camera flashes and excited fans blocked her way. If it wasn't for security she would have been swarmed. Pyrrha put on her plastic smile and walked down the carpeted hall intent on finding an auxiliary exit to the building waving to her fans and paparazzi alike.

The moment she was out of sight she rushed to a staff exit she had eyed out before and pulled out some clothing she had hid earlier including a black hoodie. This would serve as her disguise as she walked home so as to avoid more attention.

Once outside she made her way down the streets of Mistral away from the arena and onward toward her home. She ignored the people walking in the opposite direction and kept her head down and her hood up, the last thing she needed was to be recognized in public in her disguise.

The streets were dark and only illuminated by the lamps over head. The architecture and art the Mistral was well known for hid in the darkness of the night. Less and less people where walking the streets as the wary champion continued to the more quiet areas of the city.

When she came upon the bus stop that would lead her home she took a seat on the bench provided taking a rest from walking. Now Pyrrha, champion of Mistral, sat in the light of a street lamp at a bus stop alone.

Then she broke down.

Tears of frustration and stress suddenly streamed down her face like small rivers as she covered her face with her hands, everything had finally caught up to her.

Why did she subject herself to this life? What was going on through her mind when she accepted her place into her first ever tournament?

Was it for fame?

Recognition?

To prove something to herself?

Or was it for the rewards? Because all she got for a reward was unbearable loneliness and uncontrollable anxiety as a result of her fame.

Her last opponent, whom she defeated, scorned her because of her skill. She wasn't unfamiliar with angry or vengeful challengers that had fallen before her, but this one finally tipped the cup.

He was so much different than the others, his eyes spoke of defeat, his posture of someone who lost everything, and his voice, while filled with anger, held an undertone of desperation and failure. Whatever his reasons for challenging her were, he ultimately failed and that had caused him to lash out.

Perhaps she was stupid to approach him when he had been defeated; perhaps acknowledging him in the first place was something that champions of the arena never did. Pyrrha couldn't know and she didn't care anymore anyway.

So she sat on the bench, under the lamp light waiting for the bus to take her home and wept.

That was until a shift in the bench caught her attention.

Sitting next to her on the right was a very large man. Not in the sense of weight, although no doubt this individual was quite heavy, but heavily built and exceedingly tall. He sat straight up, arms crossed, and looked forward seemingly ignoring Pyrrha's presence. Even at her height of six feet, Pyrrha only came to the man's chest sitting down leaving him a head and a half more. The man's immense bulk was a testament to his physical strength and could easily be seen through his green coat. Interestingly, the champion in hiding couldn't see any of his skin.

The man was dressed head to toe preventing any of his flesh from being exposed. He even wore a pair of gloves and his head was hidden by a hood.

Overall his presence unnerved Pyrrha as this guy screamed dangerous.

Pyrrha's scrutinizing was cut short by a deep voice that originated from the man.

"Tears like yours only fall when someone's been back into a corner with not exit or when they feel like the world is lane upon their shoulders," the stranger's head never moved to look at her, "So young champion? Which is it?"

Pyrrha's red puffy eyes widened in surprise, did he see her change?

If so, creepy.

"H-How-"

"Your face is one of a kind dear, anyone in Mistral would instantly see right through your disguise should they have been looking hard enough. It's not like you were trying to hide it when your tears started."

Pyrrha looked away and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to dry them.

The two sat in silence for another moment each unmoving and eyes locked forward. Pyrrha's breaths were beginning to steady when the stranger spoke again.

"So? Which one then?" his voice held no irritation or impatience.

Pyrrha, realizing she never answered his question, jolted at the voice before replying. "S-Sorry, I was j-just lost in thought is all," her voice was shaky, still having to recover from her break down.

"I-I just feel as if everyone in Mistral expects so much from me and I feel as if I can't fail once. It's like I have to keep winning or everything I've done up to this point would have been a waste," she paused, thinking over her position," But this life of being a champion, I didn't know what I was giving up when perused it."

She took a breath before continuing, "As the champion of Mistral I've made myself an icon of Mistral pride, so if I were to fail I would be failing everyone else. I've given up so much that I would do anything to get back the opportunity to get my life back. I feel so…alone."

The stranger sat silent and listened to the young champion's frustrations. He listened to her becoming the champion and how she felt the world's eyes shift to her. He listened to her first fight as the champion and how each fight became easier and easier over time. He listened as she explained that her parents had pushed her to perusing this path unknowing of the consequences that would plague their daughter for the years to come. She didn't blame them as no one could have guessed of how bad it would become.

The poor girl's tears began to flow again as she continued to vent her anxieties to the massive stranger. Yet despite it all, the stranger remained unmoving.

After awhile, Pyrrha began to calm down once more as a though reached her. Why was she even telling this complete stranger anything anyways? It was then the Invisible Girl felt a strong, yet gentle hand on her shoulder and looked to the man besides her. His gaze had finally turned to her tear soaked face and what she saw was not what she expected.

Instead of the face of a man like she had been expecting, she was greeted by an ornately crafted mask with four eye slits. It was metal and had beautifully intricate details all around the mask, but in the center below the eye slits was a winged heart with two teardrops below it.

Pyrrha had seen that icon before in a few places around Mistral. It was the logo of a religious group that nobody paid much mind to, but one she had heard of from her parents. According to them these "Hopefuls" were a bunch of people who cling to their faith in hopes of easing their suffering in the world. There wasn't any outward hostility in her household, just a live and let live mentality with them.

So with that in mind, what was a member doing here?

The champion's question was answered when the man spoke again.

"Your heart yearns for companionship and your soul cries out against the perceived injustice that the world and yourself have created," Pyrrha blinked in surprise, "I can't force you into anything nor can I convince a person using my tongue and I have no right to ask anything of you."

The man stood and turned to face Pyrrha, in his left hand was something connected to a chain that she had not seen before. Slowly he offered his large, gloved hand to her.

"But I would ask of you this: seek absolution for your spirit. Hold this in your hands and pray for guidance, she will answer."

The object was dropped into Pyrrha's hand. Inspecting it reviled it to be a small pendant shaped like the logo on the man's mask and about the size of the palm of her hand. Turning it over she saw an inscription: "Give prayer to the Mother and receive her love in return."

The champion looked back up to the individual before her only to find that he was gone. His voice, however, remained.

"A suffering heart need not be alone. Find yourself, young champion, and those who would find you shall reveal themselves."

Then like mist, the voice faded away leaving a confused and shaken girl on a bus stop bench.

A cool breeze blew through her hair.

That same night she prayed alone in her room kneeling at herbed and away from the attention of her parents, she still felt silly for considering even doing this, but if it's worth her attention then it's worth doing once. And she had yet to get rid of the pendant she was given.

Then something happened. As Pyrrha gave prayer, she felt a presence. It was difficult to rationalize it to herself, but someone was watching her and listening to every word that came out of her mouth.

It had startled her so that she immediately stopped and looked around her room only to discover that she was still alone.

Chalking it up to a burst of paranoia the champion continued her prayer once more and again that presence came back. Pyrrha spun her head around franticly, again looking for an intruder. Nothing.

Pyrrha looked at the fist sized pendant clutched in her hands, eyes wide, and confusion racing in her mind. Was this actually happening? Was she being watched?

Without much else to do about the situation she resumed her prayer asking for a path, answers, anything and yet again that presence returned. Despite her instincts she continued without pausing and trying to ignore the ethereal presence behind her. She felt this feeling get stronger and stronger until it vanished.

Pyrrha had finished her prayer as the presence disappeared and before she could stand and turn she felt a soft, caring hand gently caress her cheek. Naturally, the young woman yelped and spun around on her feet to discover nothing.

Pyrrha's heart drummed in her chest as her wide eye's franticly scanned her room for any sign of what that was when suddenly she became unbelievably tired. Her legs felt like jelly and her mind was hazy, as if she went two full days without sleep. She fell upon her bed behind her, eyes slowly closing despite her attempts to keep them open. Right when her eyes closed she heard a voice, a beautifully warm voice.

"Sleepeth anon mine own young champion. Sleepeth and trot the path of dreams."

-XXXX-

A fond smile graced the champion's face. That was the day something in her life changed for the better. Was she apprehensive of the whole thing? Yes, but there was little in her life that she could look forward to and besides, what are the chances of anything actually happening?

After that night, Pyrrha felt invigorated, proud even. Over time she would begin to do away with trying to hide from the masses of fans and simply acknowledged or outright ignored them all together. The feeling of loneliness never left her unfortunately as she was still surrounded by the faceless masses who only adored her because of her status. She did, however, have something to fall back to whenever she felt the chains of popularity close around her.

Her prayers to The Great Mother helped numb the pain of solitude and as time passed, she began to rely on it more and more.

By the time a year passed the 'Invincible Girl' of Mistral had fully embraced her new faith. Although, never openly.

Aside of her parents, Pyrrha kept her faith hidden from the eyes of society often hiding her pendant under her clothing and armor. It had become clear that the Great Mother's followers had been caught under the scrutiny of society in recent years. The fact that Faunus composed a majority of the faith's numbers was always a sore spot because of the rampant racism surrounding the Faunus, but it became worse when the White Fang began to use it as a recruitment tool.

So the champion had to keep her faith hidden from the cameras to save her the ire an unforgiving and scared populous.

"Pyrrha Nikos, get ready your fight's up next!" called a voice behind her.

Looking back to the doors leading away from her private locker room and to the arena field the champion took a breath and mentally readied herself. She looked to the pendant of a winged heart in her hand and gave her Goddess one last prayer before tucking it under her breast plate and grabbing her famed spear and shield. With any hopes this fight will be quick and maybe even free her from this title.

With that in mind the Invincible Girl and champion of Mistral, Pyrrha Nikos took to the field one last time before her destiny at Beacon Academy arrived.

-XXXX-

Ozpin was a man of many tales. Throughout Remnant's history he has played the role of guide for humanity, and by extension Faunus, for centuries. Every time he would meet his end, or when his body gave out, his cursed soul would wander for a time until he could find a worthy host to fuse with. Over time, he would begin to take roles behind the curtain rather than make himself an important figure in the history books. It became abundantly more important with the ever shifting machinations of Her and her mad quest.

Because of his time on Remnant, there was very little that escaped or stunted him. So when Amber's body made it to the safety of Beacon Ozpin's concern rocketed to new heights.

Amber, or at least her body, was free from all physical harm but her very soul and the power of the Fall Maiden within her was gone.

Ozpin's mind raced a hundred miles a minute trying to rationalize what had happened and how it was done. Qrow's testimony didn't ease his mind either, in fact it might have made things worse.

As he had stated in the conversation over their scrolls a man, larger and more imposing than Ironwood, had apparently defeated minions of Her's and had also taken the Fall Maiden's soul. But those were the words of an unknown figure that retreated before Qrow could question them further, they were horribly unreliable.

Ozpin couldn't fathom how this individual could have taken a soul, let alone a Maiden's. There was only one person in the world who he knew had such a power and this mysterious figure claimed to NOT be working with them.

Ozpin didn't like it at all, there were too many unknowns.

It scared him.

A voice brought the headmaster of Beacon out of his worried thoughts. "Headmaster, are you well?"

Glynda stood in front of his desk holding her trademark touch pad, eyes locked onto his aged form.

"I'm fine Glynda, just lost in thought is all," he replied hiding his worry form his assistant.

"Ozpin," she began, "I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now and I know when I see concern in your eyes, what's bothering you?"

Ozpin stayed quiet, how foolish of him to try and hide something from Glynda.

"Your thinking about Amber weren't you?"

"None of it fills me with confidence, Glynda. This whole situation surrounding her has left too many possibilities open for us. A third party is not something we need in our war with Her."

"Perhaps there isn't another player, we don't know if this man was even telling us the truth. For all we know it could have been a ruse to make us question her tactics and distract us."

Ozpin tore his gaze from Glynda and turned his chair toward the massive window behind his desk as the large clockwork hands traveled by. The view of Beacon's grounds and beyond that, Vale, always reminded him of his goals and of why he fought. Being who he was, he had a responsibility to up hold. Unfortunately it's never easily done.

"I wish I could write it off so easily," the old soul began, "I wish I could blame Salem for everything that happens and for every action taken against us. But this is different. There is something happening and I don't know why, but something is telling me that change is about to happen and our mysterious soul thief is involved."

Ozpin didn't like surprises and unknowns, he had to deal with enough of that from Salem, and so he needed to find out anything regarding this man. Ozpin had sent out Qrow to look for any leads, but unfortunately nothing had come up as of yet.

Another matter to address was Ironwood. He had to tell James that a Maiden had been attacked and was missing her power that much was certain, but the mention of a possible new force against them was something that Ozpin was hesitant to share. James was impulsive and brash, by telling him what Qrow had encountered when looking for the Maiden Ospin ran the risk of the General acting of his own accord and instigating a conflict they couldn't afford.

Where Qrow was the scalpel, James was the hammer.

While telling Ironwood could be beneficial, giving them access to a near unlimited resource to track down their target, it would not go unnoticed. Salem would take full advantage of the situation and act while Ozpin's attention was elsewhere. There would be more harm than good if they sought out this individual so widely.

Ozpin turned to his assistant once more, "Regardless of how I feel on the subject we need to focus on the now rather than the later. We need to investigate Amber's attack more thoroughly; if that man was telling the truth then we need to find him."

The blond nodded in agreement, "I'll inform Qrow to double his efforts. I'll also notify General Ironwood about the attack and to be on the lookout for-"

"No."

Taken back by the sudden interruption Glynda responded, "Excuse me sir, but shouldn't we tell Ironwood about the Fall Maiden's attack?"

The patchwork of souls that made up the man before her spoke, "We will tell James about the attack and the loss of the Maiden, but we can't tell him about this possible third party."

"Why is that sir?"

A sharp gleam could be seen in his old eyes, "Although James has the entire Atlesian military at his command he is far too brash with his actions. If we had him, or if he took it upon himself, to spend recourses looking for our missing link it would only draw unwanted attention."

A look of agreement flashed across the woman's face.

"And besides, if our target got wind that the Atlesian military was out hunting for him it may 'drive them underground' as it were. We need to take careful steps when approaching this."

With that out of the way Ozpin gave his assistant a few more orders before she dismissed herself to attend to her duties.

He returned to the paperwork in front of him and sighed. Out of all the stresses that he took up paperwork for the academy that he ran was still one he would gladly hand off to someone else. Although he doubted that anyone would be willing to take him up on the offer.

One long sip from his coffee later and Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, continued to plan the final touches for the next school trimester.

-XXXX-

Black smoke rose from the decaying bodies of dead Grimm, slowly disintegrating away like the beasts they were. People of the village screamed and panicked as they tried desperately to find shelter from the oncoming wave of black death and white bone.

Mothers and fathers grabbed children in hopes that they could keep them safe while others acquired any weapon they could find or even anything that could be used as a weapon. Some people of the village gave into despair and simply fell to their hands and knees waiting for the Grimm to kill them.

Yet amongst the chaos and panic beyond the front gate of the village's wooden walls stood Gale, he held his mighty cleaver in his right hand and his powerful blunderbuss smoking in his left.

The massive, armored man remained in place even as he saw the hoard of Grimm congregate and amass at the edge of the forest clearing. It was reported to be massive, a small Grimm surge, and was on a warpath through the southern parts of the Vale province. This village just on the border between Vale and its neighbor Vacuo was to be the monsters' next target.

Gale happened to be passing through the village heading towards the Kingdom of Vacuo itself. He had planned to raise shines to his Goddess on his way and convert any who would be willing to the faith of the All-Mother. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Gale's plans were put on hold when he heard of the incoming attack as the village leader happened to be walking near him when a messenger came.

According to reports from huntsmen scouts, a huge hoard of Grimm was tearing its way through the countryside and had already devastated two smaller communities in Vale. In response to this 'Grimm surge' both Vale and Vacuo's council members had issued a full team of experienced huntsmen to try and wipe out a large section of the horde before it came across any more villages and outlying towns.

This type of plan was all well and good but the problem was that in a panic the messenger made the mistake of spastically spouting out the entire message in the middle of the village market. Naturally, the population of villagers was thrown into a panic as well. And with Grimm being attracted to despair, fear, and all negative emotions the hoard diverted its course away from the huntsmen ambush and strait this way. It just furthered the panic.

The leaders did their best to try and quell the panic and organize some kind of defense. It would, however, fail as a pack of beowolfs found and attacked the unprepared village. Mother's grace, the gate into the village wasn't even closed.

The wolf-like monsters easily bypassed the wooden walls and immediately began attacking everyone in the settlement, only to start dying in large quantities when Gale cut strait down the middle of them.

His cleaver left little to the imagination of how devastating it was as he effortlessly carved and cleaved his weapon through the black hides of the red eyed daemons.

Gale held them at bay near the entrance until the last one fell to the ground and started to disintegrate into black wisps of hatred and fear. He, by all means, had no reason to stay and protect the village but his conscience demanded that he remain.

Now, he steeled himself for the oncoming onslaught that would take place in but a few scant moments.

The few defenders on the walls called out to him to return inside to the 'safety' of the walls. He simply ignored them and waited with bated breath.

"To the mother that watches over my steps,"

The howls and braying of the hoard drew louder.

"I seek your guidance and attention."

The rumbling foot falls of behemoths could be heard.

"Protect my soul from the darkness that awaits me,"

Roars and squeals thundered closer and closer.

"For I seek absolution for the sins of my past."

"Sir, for the love of God get in here!"

"Only you can forgive me for what I have become."

Like a tide of blackened water, the hoard of Grimm's children burst forth from the tree line and rampaged strait for the village.

Gale met their charge with his own and a battle cry.

"Rrrraaaah!"

His massive frame charged forward faster than anyone thought possible. Each armored foot that collided with the crude, stone road left a web like crack and a small crater in the center. In seemingly no time at all, Gale was upon the black hoard cleaving an unfortunate beowolf in half at the waist.

By his vow he would not let this village fall to this tide of black hatred.

First blood was his and he capitalized it by planting his armored boot firmly in the ground and spun his body so that his cleaver swept downward and into a boarbatusk that was intent on ramming him.

The creatures of Grimm surrounding this seemingly mad human and jumped on any opportunity to eviscerate him with tusks, claws, maws, and fangs. Their attacks were quick, but Gale's armor held with each blow he received.

A beowolf's claw made its way down his back scaring the armor and causing a sound not to dissimilar for nails on a chalkboard. This blow sent the armored man stumbling forward. Quickly turning he managed to block a jumping attack from a creep with his cleaver, shoving it into another Grimm creature.

One unfortunate beowolf lost its jaw when it tried to bite down on the man's armored shoulder.

Every swing of his blade cut down a number of Grimm, every blast from his blunderbuss threw another into the rest of the hoard, and every strike against him Gale returned in kind.

Yet despite it all, Grimm still surged toward the village with relentless furry. He was not doing enough.

Cutting down another monster, Gale returned his blunderbuss to his hip and raised his left hand behind himself. A sparks and flashes of light began to appear in his hand and quickly grew in intensity. Then with a bright flash of light the Grimm staggered and paused, all of their red eyes focused on the man in the center of the hoard. Even the Grimm halfway to the village stopped in their tracks and turned their attention to the beam of light that was now piercing the cloudy sky.

The defenders of the walls could only gaze in shock at what they were witnessing.

Gale stood in the center of the black hoard, hand now held straight toward the sky with beam of 'Mother's Light' shooting from her realm. To the observer, it was like light was streaming into the man's hand, to Gale, it was the power of his Goddess that imbued his form.

The armored man knew that he was not as skilled of a warrior like those amongst the ranks of the Sentinels, but he would rather die a thousand times before he would let these soulless abominations kill the people of this village so long as he was here.

The last of the beam of light flew into his body and levitating in his hand the final portion afforded to him. The orb of light violently spun and shifted as if reacting to the evil around it. Then Gale slammed the orb into his armored chest, right in the center of the heart adorning it.

Another burst of light blinded all that was observing and once it cleared a new sight greeted everyone's vision.

To those watching from the wooden fortifications of the village walls, they saw a sight that was to be believed to be in the tales of mythology and religious works.

They saw an angle.

To the Children of Grimm, however, they saw the one thing that they were created to destroy; they saw the one thing that would draw any Grimm into a murderous frenzy, the one thing that the Dark Brother imbued them with the knowledge of.

To them, the very essence of pure soul stood before them.

And they would, no, had to destroy it.

Every monster that once charged toward the village with no intention other than to destroy it, roared in rage and charged toward this thing that mocked them.

This well of soul would be consumed.

-XXXX-

Golmez wanted to bang his head against a hard wall.

He hated working in teams, but tolerated it till he left Heaven Academy as he figured he wouldn't have to team up with anyone once he became a fully licensed huntsman. But because a load of Grimm decided to throw a massive hissy fit and start rampaging across the Southern border of Vale he was forced to team up with a bunch of other huntsmen and huntresses.

Almost ate his shirt when he heard of that part of the plan.

And what was their oh-so glorious plan to stop a Grimm surge? Why they were to bait the hoard of raging death into an ambush and keep them busy until an Atlesian battle group decided to haul their shiny white asses over here and obliterate the bulk of the Grimm present.

His team and another would then be on clean up duty. Four years in an academy to become a huntsman only to be reduced to an over glorified monster janitor.

No doubt Atlas would take the credit afterwards.

His dream to be recognized as one of the world's greatest huntsmen was not going to happen if he kept getting shit jobs.

The leader of their marry band, an experienced Vale huntress, made it clear that one little hair out of line and the whole plan would fall apart. She pissed him off with her hoity-toity attitude and thinking that because she had been a huntress three years over him she knew everything.

Golmez didn't spend nine years as a huntsman to listen to someone go on about how much 'smarter' and 'experienced' she was than everyone else. But he held his tongue knowing that he'd be reprimanded for 'stepping out of line'.

He was just hoping that his role in this plan would get him the recognition he deserved. It probably would have too if something didn't…happen.

Everything they had planned went up in smoke the minute the Grimm hoard suddenly changed directions out of the blue. Golmez and his team would eventually found out that a village was just a few miles off from their planed ambush. And the Grimm were burning strait for it.

To make matters worse, his team found out just how severe this Grimm surge was. The intel they got from some Atlesian scan suggested that hoard could be summarized as 'big'. What he and his team discovered was the sheer volume of Grimm running through the woods and forests.

It was...it was terrifying.

In all his years of training to become a huntsman and years as one, Golmez had never seen so many Grimm travel together in a destructive warpath.

They were literally **climbing **on top of and over each other to get ahead of their kin.

Never in his life would he expect to see such a revolting image.

It was after this revelation that he and his team got picked up by a bullhead and rocketed to the village of the Grimm's attention. And if it wasn't because of a massive murder of nevermores slamming into and wrecking their engines, they would have been there by now.

But no, fate decided that they were going to run a MILE through dense forest to retch the village.

Everyone knew that there would be nothing by the time they got there.

"Keep running damn it!" yelled the lead huntress, "We can't slow down for a minute!"

Golmez yelled back, "What the hell does it matter! There isn't going to be anything left! Did you not see the amount of Grimm in that hoard?!"

It was a reasonable question.

"Can it Golmez, I'm sick of your shit!" the bitch yelled back, "That village is completely without aide we need to get there now!"

"How the hell will five huntsmen make any damn difference?! We'd kill maybe a few dozen before getting overwhelmed and ripped apart! That's assuming we even make it before the Grimm do!"

Another member piped up, "Golmez, it's our job to risk are lives like this it's what we trained at academies for."

Like hell it was.

"In case you forgot," he reasonably began, "We didn't train to needlessly die like some Atlesian robot! If we charge in now what the hell could we do?"

That got the Party to stop. Thank God.

One member, Jason if he was remembering correctly, stomped his foot in the ground and turned to the rest of them, "Ah he's right, damn it! If we do make it in time what could we do? Five of us won't be enough to stem the tide for even a second."

Someone else, Rachel, spoke next, "Only Atlas has the fire power capable of cutting down that many Grimm in a short time and they're not even here yet. We had an advantage with our ambush spot to hold out, but an out of the way village?"

The question went unanswered. It was obvious of what would happen.

Golmez was glad these people were beginning to understand the situation that they were in. That was until their 'glorious leader' opened her mouth.

"You guys can't be serious! We are huntsmen, we're supposed to fight and risk our lives for those who can't! We have a slim chance to stall the hoard and we're just standing here arguing about it!"

"Uhh, guys?"

Golmez could feel his blood pressure building, "How slim of a chance are we talking about here!? Because if you're thinking about us redirecting that mess or even stopping it then you're mad! We need at least twenty huntsmen to grab the Grimm's attention."

"G-guys?"

"You're just being a fucking coward Golmez! You only care about your damn ego rather than actually helping people. How did you ever become a huntsman?"

"Guys! It's kind'a important!"

"I'm not being a coward I'm being a realist! If we go to that village we die, I don't understand how hard it is for you to grasp that!"

"Guys, really!"

"He's right Abby," Rachel defended, "If we jump in as we are now we'd just get slaughtered with no gain. I don't like it, but we need to face the fact that we aren't going to save that village."

"I can't believe of what I'm hearing! Are yo-"

"GUYS!"

"What!?" Abby called out.

"Look!"

He pointed above the tree line and their heads followed. In the direction to the village was a beam of light piercing the cloudy sky above them. At first they thought it was just a ray of light shining through the clouds until they realized that it was, somehow, going down.

"What the fuck is that?" asked Golmez.

"Maybe it's some kind of beacon," Rachel replied.

Before the five man team could contemplate the stream of light further it disappeared. A moment later a bright flash peaked over the canopy before it faded as well.

Whatever had happened, the team could hear the result as the howling and snarling of the Grimm only intensified to an even greater degree.

The hoard of monsters no longer called out in blind rage, now their cries seemed filled with hate, desperation, and fear.

Fear…that was the only way Golmez could describe the feeling he got from hearing the demented and twisted calls of the Grimm.

Could Grimm even feel fear in the first place?

The voice from their leader, Abby, interrupted his thoughts, "We need to go."

Her voice was soft, almost inaudible.

"What?" Golmez replied in disbelief. Did they not just an argument over this?

"We need to get over there NOW."

Everyone, other than himself, resumed their sprint toward the village. Was he suddenly the only sane one here!?

"Hey wait! I thought we all agreed this was suicide!"

It was no use as the team had already left the clearing. So Golmez only sighed, and with at curse on his lips, made to run after them against his better judgment.

It took almost twenty minutes of running before the team of experienced huntsmen began to close in. The closer they got a single voice became clearer in the cacophony of noises by the Grimm. No words were being spoken, they only heard noises of exertion from what they could only assume was some mad huntsmen stuck in the middle of a Grimm surge.

The Grimm all seemed to be converging on the source of bright light exclusively now. To make matters even worse and confusing, any Grimm they happened across ignored them or, if they were to close, would attack in a berserk rage. Well, an even more berserk than usual.

Whatever was happening over at the village the team needed to get there ASAP. Golmez continued to shout his warnings, but it seemed that these people had some kind of death wish that he would not take part in at all.

Maybe he could slip away while they were all getting themselves killed.

Being at the back of the group Golmez could subtly slow his pace and eventually dip out into the trees. That was a plan right?

As the huntsman slowed his pace, allowing him to lag further and further away, a deafening explosion-like sound rang out through the forest. Everyone stopped immediately and covered their ears and grit their teeth from the sheer volume of the noise.

Then, out of nowhere, a wave of light washed over them and blinded them of their sight rendering them all temporarily without any cognitive senses.

But just as fast as it all happened it faded, leaving five very confused huntsmen and huntresses standing in a now silent forest.

As always, Golmez piped up first, "W-what the hell was that, was that Atlas?"

No one replied, their heads still spinning from auditory and visual overload.

The confused and tired huntsman looked for the light above the canopy like before, but was unable to. The trees where too dense and it was likely that they were close enough to the source that they couldn't get a working angle on the ground.

Team leader Abby then called for everyone to continue and they resumed their tiring sprint toward a more than likely destroyed town.

Before Golmez could continue his attempt to flee from the group, Jason's voice cut his thoughts. "Hey, has anyone noticed it yet?"

"Noticed what?" asked Rachel.

"I can't hear anything."

Wait, they now just noticed that?

Without stopping, Abby turned her head to Jason, "What do you mean you can't hear anything? We're talking to you."

"No I mean I can't hear the Grimm."

Again the group stopped.

Again.

That village was sure to be a smoldering hole by now.

"Wait, guys he's right," said some other member Golmez refused to learn the name of.

By now everyone noticed the silence of the forest. There was no snarling or roars of the Grimm, just silence.

Abby's eyes widened in realization of some kind before she blotted away from everyone toward their objective with all haste. Outcries of "Wait" and "Hold up" followed her as the rest of the team chased after.

Golmez stood alone being left behind. Now was his chance to bail before he was missed. Yet something in the back of his mind told him that he was going to miss out on something important if he left now.

Shit. Why did he have to be blessed with such amazing instinct?

He switched his gaze from the path his team went down to a different direction all together and back again.

Sighing, he made to follow the rest, despite his better judgment.

By the time he reached the rest of the group, they had reached the field outside the walls of the village. What he saw failed his expectation.

The field was littered with the petrified remains of Grimm. Dozens and dozens of the monsters washed in grey stone and locked in place unmoving. Looking to his right he saw even more Grimm statues in the tree line, all as if they were about to spill out into the field toward the village.

The huntsman's gaze, and apparently the others, was then drawn to a very tall man in some kick ass armor and holding a big cleaver in one hand. The man (at least he assumed it was a man) stood in the middle of a circle of Grimm far away from the wooden walls of the village. And walking out of the village was what seemed to be the inhabitance, all of them clamoring forward with faces of awe.

When the villagers gathered close to the armored figure he slammed the top of the cleaver into the ground with a mighty crash. The sound echoed through the field as all the Grimm statues crumbled to dust.

Everyone's attention was solely on this man.

"Behold!" the man bellowed, "The furry of the Goddess' might!"

Golmez had no idea what he was talking about. But upon inspection of the man's armor he asked, "Hey, isn't that the logo of that weird cult that's been floating about for a few years now?"

Rachel promptly fell to her knees and bowed her head to the ground, muttering something all the while.

The huntsman sighed, "I'll take that as a yes then."

He didn't get paid enough for this bullshit.

* * *

**FUCK**

**Well after way to long I finally managed to finish this chapter.**

**Work coupled with writer's block can be a bitch. ****I digress. **

**It was brought to my attention that this story seemed hard to follow and I'd have to agree. I've been jumping around between characters to much so expect the next chapters to be focused down. **

**Another thing I'm worried about is how I present my characters in this story. I want to avoid MarySues as much as possible and I don't think this chapter helped any. That and I suck at action sequences. Let me what you think.**

**Hopefully I can churn out a new chapter in less time, but we'll see wont we.**

**Please leave any reviews and criticisms that you may have. **

**I wish you all a nice day.**


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